On Your Wings
by pot kettle black
Summary: Larsa was never afraid to play the long game. Penelo was never afraid to follow her heart. Sometimes it beat to rhythms he couldn't quite catch, but he never lost it completely. LxP, some VxP
1. one: the first gift

Disclaimer: I don't own FF12 or any of the characters .

Pairing: Larsa x Penelo, some Vaan x Penelo

Summary: Larsa was never afraid to play the long game. Penelo was never afraid to follow her heart, though she wasn't always quite sure where it was taking her. Sometimes it beat to rhythms he couldn't quite catch, but it never wanted to run away. LxP, some VxP

Notes: I just started playing FF12 again and I really wanted to do a Penelo x Grown Up Larsa, but I wanted to show their relationship building and changing over time. It also didn't make sense to me to ignore Vaan, so that's there for now, but the main pairing is LxP. I've already started on chapter two, so I'll probably put that up in about a week. I hope somebody reads this and likes it…!

News: Finally put my finger on what I didn't like about the style I was writing the story in and fixed it. This chapter is rewritten although the second half of it is mostly the same. The second and third chapters will be getting rewrites soon. Fourth chapter is still in the works.

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><p>ON YOUR WINGS<p>

_chapter one: the first gift  
><em>

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><p>The <em>Surya's <em>glossair engines whirred to a soft halt as Penelo went through the now familiar procedure of shutting the ship down. Vaan was already stretching next to her, his seat reclining back as his arms reached out over the headrest. The flight from Balfonheim back to Rabanastre had been a long one and they were both a little tired.

As Penelo flipped the last switch to cut power to the airship's primary systems, silence filled the cabin, and she was struck once again at how strange it all seemed. Just two years ago she never would have dreamed of _riding_ on an airship, much less knowing how to navigate for one regularly and pilot it when she had to.

It was surreal sometimes, to think that a girl that had had her feet so solidly on the ground in Rabanastre's Lowtown could fly all around the world now.

"It was nice to see Rikken, Raz, and Elza doing so well," she said.

Vaan nodded. "I kind of expected Balfonheim to fall apart without Reddas, but it seems like they're doing good."

"Mmhmm," Penelo said, thinking back on their trip.

She'd always liked the warm sea air and never missed the chance to dip her feet in the water off the pier. They'd walked up to the mansion where Reddas used to live barefoot to see his three accomplices flourishing even in his absence.

"Mostly people respect what he stood for," Elza said. "We can't keep track of _everything_ the way he used to though. It's never going to be exactly the same, but we're making the best of it."

A story Penelo and Vaan were both familiar with.

They did a hunt on the Cerobi Steppe after checking in on the trio and traded for some water gems. The latest news was that the Balfonheim Port refused to pay taxes to Archadia. There was some conflict over that, but Penelo hadn't really wanted to hear about it. Vaan was more interested than she was in the fact that some pirates based out of Balfonheim were targeting merchant ships from Archadia, and that Archadian merchants refused to pass through the area and were taking an overland route through Rabanastre before crossing over to Bhujerba.

"Has Larsa said anything about it?" Vaan asked, fully aware of how much the young emperor and Penelo wrote to each other.

He had, but Penelo didn't think it would really be appropriate to share as she assumed that those parts of their communication were private, so she'd just shrugged. She recalled what he'd written though:

_Balfonheim is a most troublesome issue—one that I am sure you have heard of on your travels. On the one hand I would be perfectly happy to cut the pirate city from the Empire if that is truly what they wish. On the other I fear it would set too dangerous an example for other territories of the Empire. It would be much easier to deal with were there a central authority in Balfonheim, but aside from the largely ignored Imperial governor, there is no one to represent the city or the people living in it clearly. There are only pirates, who may just as easily be viewed as brutes at best and rebels at worst. The last thing I would do is use force against them, but I fear that it is coming on the day where I might not have a choice._

It had worried her so much she'd brought it up to Rikken, Raz, and Elza. Not exactly the way Larsa had put it, but a simpler version. She'd urged them to try to organize the pirates attacking Archadian ships under one banner with someone that the Empire could actually _talk_ to. Rikken had been giving a rather rousing speech in the Quayside Courtyards when they'd left. Penelo could only hope that she'd helped some.

"Hey," Vaan said, tapping her shoulder and bringing her back to the present. "Let's go see how Migelo's doing. I'm _starving_."

"Vaan," Penelo tilted her head and narrowed her eyes at him.

Vaan held up his hands defensively, "I was going to pay him!"

"Yeah, yeah," Penelo said as she stood up.

"Whaat?" Vaan said, "I _was_."

The aerodrome at Rabanastre was busier than usual, though Penelo wasn't surprised after what they'd heard in Balfonheim. Still, she didn't quite like the mass of bodies crowding the already hot, dry space and more than once she and Vaan bumped into people rushing by. The Archadians always seemed more annoyed than the Dalmascans or Bhujerbans, but Penelo supposed it was probably because they were ill-dressed for the climate.

"You'd think they'd at least dress like they're going to the desert," Vaan said, eyeing a few wilted Archadians wiping sweat from their foreheads and grumbling at a docent.

"Well you dress the same way all the time and then go to Archades in the middle of winter and complain about the cold," Penelo reasoned.

"That's different," Vaan said. "No place has any business being that cold."

Penelo rolled her eyes and found the docent for private airship dockings. "The _Surya's _docked in N7," she said, rolling off their usual space. It cost a bit to keep a regular docking port that way, but they were so often in Rabanastre that it just beat having to pay the regular fees and made it easier for people to send them messages and packages. "Anything new?"

"Hmm," the docent hummed while searching for a small key to unlock their private box. "I think there was something," she said as she turned the key and opened the drawer.

"You know, nobody ever writes to _me_," Vaan complained. "Even Balthier's started addressing everything to you."

"Because you never write back," Penelo replied.

"Well, yeah," Vaan scratched his head, "Because you do…"

The docent retrieved an envelope and a package from their drawer and held them both out to Penelo. "Here we go, one letter and one package, both from Archades. Now if you'll just sign…"

"Gee, I wonder who that's from," Vaan asked, voice dripping with sarcasm as Penelo signed for the items.

"I think it's nice that he keeps in touch," Penelo said. _And it's nice to have someone else to talk to sometimes_, she added mentally. Not that she didn't love talking to Vaan, it was just that sometimes it was nice to get a different perspective.

She put the package in her bag and opened the letter since it seemed short enough to read on the way to Migelo's.

"What's that?" Vaan asked as he guided her through the crowded aerodrome.

"It's an invitation to Larsa's fourteenth birthday in Archades," she replied. "He also says the package has some Rozarrian sweets for Kytes and Filo."

"That's nice of him," Vaan said, "How does he even know who they are?"

Penelo stuffed the letter in her bag next to the package and was about to answer when Vaan said.

"That was a joke, I know you wrote about them."

They emerged from the aerodrome onto the slightly less busy street outside the Westgate. "It's in a few weeks, so we should be able to make it," Penelo said.

Vaan made a face. "You mean you actually want to go to _Archades_? To one of those parties with those stuffed shirt, stuffy-stuffed up nobles?"

"Vaan, it's his _birthday_!"

"I know, I know," Vaan said. "It's just… why does he have to live there? Don't answer that, _I know_."

Penelo had been about to make a face at him, but she knew Vaan wasn't really going to refuse to go to Larsa's party. Much as he complained about Archades, Penelo knew Vaan thought of Larsa as kind of an honorary little brother the same way Kytes and Filo were. He always asked how "that emperor kid" was doing and sometimes even wrote his own notes as postscripts to Penelo's letters. Penelo wasn't ashamed to admit she had a pretty big soft spot for Larsa too.

It was something she'd always remember, even though there had been so much going on at the time. The Bahamut was falling and she was trying to keep the _Strahl _steady just the way Fran had shown her. Judge Zargabaath on the _Alexander_ had said he was going to ram his ship into the Bahamut to push it away from Rabanastre and the moment it sunk in for everyone that he meant to sacrifice himself and his entire crew, she'd felt something press against the back of her seat and somehow she'd known that it was Larsa, leaning forward as the weight of the Empire settled squarely on his shoulders. More than anything, he was a lonely kid with a tough job. Keeping up with his letters was the least she could do, and he definitely deserved a good birthday.

Something occurred to her just then that got her a little bit worried. They always managed to get presents for Kytes and Filo and all the other kids, but what could they possibly get Larsa? She asked Vaan as much right as they entered Migelo's shop.

"I don't know, you're the one who writes him all the time. Shouldn't you know?"

Penelo shook her head and Vaan pointed to a shelf just behind her. "Hey, we could always get him a Hi-Potion. He used to carry those around a lot, right?"

Penelo liked to think her elbow had just grown a mind of its own when it decided to bore itself into his rib.

#

The next day, after they'd rested up, they dropped by the Sandsea to see if there were any hunts posted. Penelo thought it would be a good idea so they could pick up some extra spending money for Larsa's present.

Vaan had said, "I'm sure whatever you get him will be fine—it's the thought that counts right? You know he's not expecting a priceless gem from us or anything."

"I know, but I want to get him something _nice_. Something like… I don't know."

"All right," Vaan said, "We can always stop by the bazaar later."

And Penelo had nodded because that seemed like a good idea. It made sense to get him something from Dalmasca for some reason. To remind him of them.

At the Sandsea, Tomaj greeted them as soon as they got inside with an "Overgrown Hyena on the Giza Plains—we're calling it 'The Howl in the Desert'—you guys got time to take care of it? Thing's been doing terrors for business."

It was just the sort of job they were looking for, so they took the posting and headed out right then. They walked the familiar path to the Southgate and Penelo almost couldn't get over how _different _it all was. Almost just the way she'd remembered it as a child, like the whole invasion had been a bad dream and it was time to wake up, go home, and see her family again. Of course that wasn't what it was like, but she was torn—a part of her was happy that the city had been restored and the rest of her thought it was strange that it could be so similar, yet so different at the same time.

The gate opened and a rush of hot wind threaded with sand blew into Penelo's face. She lifted up her hand to shield her eyes as the gate whooshed shut behind them. The sun felt hotter on her skin outside the shade of the city and off in the distance she could see the wind pick up and swirl the sand in the air as though they were dancing together. When she inhaled, she felt the baked, arid air fill her lungs and it reminded her of standing by the gate watching her brothers go off to hunt, her mother's hands steady on her shoulders.

It made her think of one of the poems her father used to read to her:

_The seas of sand whirl wild to a hume_

_Were I only a Danbania_

_I could swim them with grace_

That was when she knew the perfect gift was sitting right under her nose.

#

The second she returned to the _Surya_, Penelo walked straight to her room. She threw her equipment on the floor, reminding herself to get to putting it all away as soon as possible, and went to pull open the top drawer of her desk.

Inside was a small book, creased and worn, its pages weathered with love. It was called _The Poems of Arraya_ and once it had belonged to her father. Penelo opened it up and read a few lines, even though she knew them all by heart. When she closed her eyes, she could almost hear her father's voice over her shoulder. Feel his arm around her as he pointed to words, sounding them out patiently as she followed. Could remember him flattering her mother over the dinner table by saying: _Surely the flowers of the desert / must be the most beautiful / Their will is stronger than the sun / their lives as precious as water._

"Not one of her best," her mother would say, ever practical as she shook a spoon at her husband. "Arraya was a desert flower herself, you know. It's simply self flattery." But there was no hiding the smile that lit up her face. Books were something of a luxury in Rabanastre. Their family had precious few and they were not selected carelessly.

Penelo shook her head slightly to clear the memory. She didn't know much about poetry and she doubted her father had either, but these had always sounded nice to her. Reminded her of home when she was away. She'd taught Kytes to read with this book when she'd first found out that he didn't know and a few of the other kids too. It had served them all well.

It was something special to her. It reminded her of the love she'd had for the people in her life, and she was certain, absolutely certain that an emperor would be much better able to take care of it than a sky pirate. Besides she figured with all the politicians around him, Larsa could probably use a little love in his life.

#

They arrived at Archades in the afternoon, Vaan tugging at his shirt collar and fussing about his long sleeves.

"Why do they have to wear such uncomfortable clothes in Archadia," he complained.

"Because it's _cold_," Penelo said. "You should have brought a vest."

"I _have_ a vest," he whined. "It just didn't fit over this stupid shirt."

Penelo sighed. "Well don't complain to me when you're freezing your tail off."

"Well, I don't have a tail," Vaan shot back. "So I'll be fine. You on the other hand…"

"Vaaaaaaan."

Penelo almost couldn't blame him. The dress she wore was made of a thick material that seemed to weigh her down and her skirt seemed like it was determined to get in her way. The collar was a bit more obtrusive than what she was used to and the colors weren't as bright as she normally liked, but it had been cheap and she knew it would be warm and that was all that really mattered. The sleeves and collar were a starch white and the body of the dress was a kind of navy blue with gray stitching. It wasn't anything fancy but she comforted herself with the thought that she at least looked better than Vaan. He'd chosen to wear the same pants he normally wore, but with a white shirt instead of his normal vest.

"Let's just get this over with," Vaan said, as he stepped out of the airship. "This city… it bothers me."

Penelo followed him after making sure that her gift was tucked away safely in the small brown bag she was carrying. "I know what you mean," she replied. It was the reason she never pressed Vaan to visit whenever Larsa invited them, even though she did want to see her friend. She could never put her finger on it exactly—it was just something generally unsettling.

People walked around the aerodrome looking stiff and hurried. Everything was cool and clean and clear—nothing like what two street kids from Rabanastre were used to and certainly not an ideal environment for sky pirates. A nearly direct contrast to the bustle they'd left in Rabanastre. To her surprise, Vaan looped his arm through hers. "Come on," he said, tilting his head. "I know you don't want to be late."

"Yeah," she smiled, nodding lightly. Her heart beat a little faster and suddenly she was a little bit nervous. Vaan's arm was warm against hers—a hotspot that seemed to radiate through the rest of her body. It wasn't as though she and Vaan never touched or anything. It was just that usually he was so immature it was easy to forget how considerate he could be sometimes. For a moment, the hope that he might see her as more than a partner flared up again. She didn't pay it too much attention, though. They'd spent so much time together… she wasn't expecting some sudden change. Still he was nineteen now and she was about to turn eighteen so maybe, she thought, just maybe he was finally starting to notice her.

Clanking metal broke through her reverie, the sound jarring against the low hum of the aerodrome. Vaan dropped her arm and stiffened next to her. She tensed as well, her hand instinctively reaching toward the small knife she kept at her side. A cadre of Imperial soldiers stood between the two pirates and the exit to the aerodrome. Penelo and Vaan stood, not quite in fighting stances, but ready all the same. She half expected the soldiers to rush them at any second and a quick glance at Vaan's face told her he was thinking the same thing. Was analyzing the "enemy" numbers and their odds of victory. Two rows of four each making eight total. It was a fight they would have had to run from.

Luckily that wasn't the case. The doors to the aerodrome parted again and Penelo thought she saw a familiar horned helmet behind the soldiers. She didn't have to wait long to see who it was. The soldiers—guards, she now realized, parted down the center revealing Larsa, Basch trailing behind him in full armor.

_Gabranth_, she reminded herself sternly. _And a Judge._

It was easier to remember when he was dressed like that, she thought, relaxing. Vaan had settled down too, sighing in relief. "Jeez Larsa," he said. "You nearly scared the pants off me."

"Good thing he didn't have _more_ soldiers," Penelo joked. Vaan scowled and stepped forward to clap the younger boy's arm.

"It's good to see you," he said. Then, "Hey, you're taller than Penelo now." Penelo tried her best not to make a face at that one.

"Not by more than an inch," Larsa replied ever tactful as he returned Vaan's greeting. "I apologize for the soldiers and for my sudden arrival—I'd just heard about your landing and their presence is a matter of protocol."

"It's ok, Larsa," Penelo said, leaning forward to hug him. "We just weren't expecting you here, that's all. Happy Birthday."

"Thank you," Larsa replied wrapping his arms around her with more slightly more grace than he'd been able to muster for Vaan's more unconventional greeting. Penelo couldn't help but notice that he was actually around her height now. "I wished to be present for your arrival. I know how unfamiliar you both are with Archades and I would have much regretted it if you were to somehow lose your way."

"Larsa," Vaan said. "You live in the _palace_; even we're not that dumb."

"_Vaan_," Penelo hissed, mortified at how rude he was being.

"What?" he asked loudly. "We're not," he paused. "Well, maybe _you_."

Whatever insulting reply Penelo had been about to shoot back got stuffed by Larsa's light chuckling. "Of course not," the boy said, interrupting their fight. "Neither of you. I confess that I was also somewhat eager to see the both of you. It's been so very long."

Vaan rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah… we don't really do much business out here."

Penelo knew what he really meant by that was "It's not _you,_ it's Archades." Vaan might have complained a lot about their coming, but he did really care about Larsa. It was obvious in the way he smiled and joked with him almost the same way he did with Kytes—like they were all honorary younger brothers.

Larsa shot Penelo a quick look after Vaan's comment. His expression hadn't changed much, but there was a playful look in his eye. "With your kind of business I suppose I should be somewhat thankful for that," he said laughing gently.

Vaan shrugged, not having any real argument. Penelo smiled too at this small reminder that he kept her letters. She wanted to greet Basch too, just as Vaan must have, but neither of them was sure it would be all right to hug a _Judge_. Larsa seemed to notice that they were glancing behind them.

"We should head to the palace right away," Larsa said, taking hold of Penelo's hand and motioning Vaan forward politely. "I'm sure you would like to get settled before the other guests arrive."

"Sure," Penelo replied for both of them, accepting Larsa's hand and grinning broadly.

It was then that she remembered ladies in Archades didn't usually walk around hands swinging freely when there were men in the party. _Is that why Vaan…? _She wondered, thinking back to the way he'd taken her arm as they'd left the airship. She couldn't think about it too much though, Larsa had her arm now, all soft consideration as they walked.

"I really do hope you weren't too startled or offended by my presence here," he said.

"Larsa, we're a pair of _sky pirates_," Penelo prodded back. "We're nearly impossible to offend. We just didn't expect you to go through the trouble."

"A warm greeting is never trouble for an old friend," Larsa replied sincerely.

In her head, Penelo responded to this by saying that Larsa was one of the kindest, most polite, most thoughtful people she had ever known, but she didn't want to put him on the spot by saying it out loud. She knew from his letters that he was somewhat uncomfortable with receiving such compliments, so instead she settled for a heartfelt, "Thank you."

When they reached the Imperial Palace, they went straight to Larsa's private study. The guards were dismissed, and the servants as well so that it was finally just the four of them together. Basch removed his helmet and Penelo squashed the stray thought that breathing must have been unpleasant in it.

"It's good to see you, buddy," Vaan said as he shook Basch's metal encased hand. "How's Archades treating you? The nobles are a total bore, right?"

"_Vaan!" _Penelo exclaimed thinking not for the first time that she should have taped his mouth shut before they left the airship.

"Oh, well I didn't mean _you_ Larsa, I just meant, you know."

Larsa gave him a small, sympathetic smile. "I'm not offended."

"You're so _embarrassing_," Penelo said, pinching his arm in exasperation.

"Ow, hey!"

Basch laughed low and short. "It is good to see that the both of you are as lively as ever," he said.

"You too," Penelo said, giving him an awkward hug over his armor.

"I have been well," Basch said in reply to Vaan's earlier question. "I must confess I am rather glad that there is not much excitement here as it means Lord Larsa is safe and well. I hear that _you _have been leading quite eventful lives since last we met."

"Yeah," Vaan said. "Totally, we have this ship…"

Penelo tuned this part out. She didn't need to hear about her own adventures and she supposed Larsa didn't either since he'd read about most of them. "Would you like to have a seat?" he asked, gesturing toward a plush white, mahogany framed settee.

"Thanks." Penelo sat on the right edge and Larsa set himself to her left.

"Have you been well since you last wrote me?" he asked.

"Mmhmm," she nodded. "Vaan and I took down this giant hyena in the Giza Plains and—oh!" She exclaimed, smacking her forehead. "I almost forgot, I brought you a present—from us."

Larsa's eyes widened in surprise. "You did not have to—" he began.

"It's your _birthday_," Penelo insisted, pulling the package from her bag.

The gift was wrapped in plain brown paper with a red bow around it. One corner of it read, "Happy Birthday, Larsa! From Penelo and Vaan" since Vaan had said that if she didn't put his name on whatever she picked, he was really just planning on getting Larsa a Hi-Potion.

"Happy Birthday," Vaan chirped from his spot near the fireplace with Basch. "I don't know if I said that already…"

"Thank you," Larsa said, taking the present from Penelo. He looked at the package wonderingly for a moment.

"It's not much," Penelo said. "In fact it's sort of old…"

"Do you mind if I open it now?" he asked her a bit quickly, as though he'd been afraid she was going to spoil the gift.

"Go ahead," she said. A light blush went across her cheeks and she was suddenly thinking that maybe her present hadn't been so perfect after all, because really, what did the emperor of Archadia need with a used book?

Larsa slid the ribbon off the package, preserving the bow she'd tied, before peeling the paper away. Penelo watched with no small amazement—he hadn't even torn the wrapping at all, so unlike the kids she was used to who just ripped everything apart as quickly as possible. Larsa set the wrapping down on the end table next to him before considering what it had contained.

"_The Poems of Arraya,_" he read and his brow furrowed. "I confess I have never encountered the name."

"A Dalmascan poet," Basch informed him. "You would not have come across her in your studies."

"_That's _what we gave you?" Vaan asked, and Penelo couldn't stop herself from rolling her eyes at how he'd just given it away after _insisting_ that the present should be from both of them. "Those aren't really that good," he said. "They don't even rhyme and all she does is talk about nature and stuff."

"It belonged to my parents," Penelo said, ignoring Vaan for the moment. She knew he'd never been a particular fan. "It's always reminded me of home, but I've memorized them all by now and it seemed like a good time for them to get a new owner—you know in case _someone_ flies us into a mountain or something."

"Hey, _someone_ would have to navigate us into that mountain first!"

Larsa looked a little alarmed when she mentioned that they might crash, but he seemed to place the thought aside as he turned his attention to the book once more. He opened it delicately, took note of the creased pages and the worn spine.

Penelo was about to start feeling embarrassed that she hadn't bothered to locate him a new copy when his eyes met hers. There was an earnestness in them, and… something else that she couldn't quite place.

"I will treasure it always," he said. "_Thank you_."

Penelo couldn't help but smile with relief.

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><p>CHAPTER TWO PREVIEW:<p>

_A kiss not quite stolen._


	2. two: a kiss not quite stolen

Notes: Notes are at the bottom of this chapter where they will be from now on. This one starts out VxP - y, but ends up LxP - y. Second rewritten chapter.

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><p>ON YOUR WINGS<p>

_chapter two: a kiss not quite stolen_

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><p>The actual party wasn't as nice as their meeting beforehand. Everything was beautifully decorated in blue, white, and gold. Penelo and Vaan were seated at a table with a few nobles who made no effort to get to know them. Ashe wasn't in attendance as Penelo had hoped she would be, so it was one less person for them to talk to, and Basch had to follow Larsa as he made the rounds greeting guests.<p>

Even so the dinner portion had gone smoothly enough, the food was sumptuous and there was more than Penelo and Vaan could have even hoped to finished. Vaan had been particularly fond of a poultry dish that had been described as a chicken stuffed in a duck stuffed in a turkey or something like that. He'd pointed out the layers to Penelo excitedly, though she'd been more interested in the sauce that had accompanied it. They'd joked back and forth between each other and hadn't minded too much that no one at their table bothered to ask their names or where they were from.

It was when the Imperial band started playing music and people started moving around more to dance or get their own drinks that things went wrong. A whole table of multicolored drinks opened up to the side of the room and Penelo had gotten up to go and try one, since she'd never quite seen anything like it. Vaan had declined to follow her since they "looked kind of girly," so Penelo made the trip on her own. She didn't mind walking by herself or that when she got to the table it seemed like there were only men there too, she just figured that getting drinks was another thing women in Archades didn't do, like walking alone.

The man behind the table had been polite about explaining what each thing was and recommended a rum cocktail with succulent fruit that was pinkish orange in color. Penelo took one and thanked him, taking a sip and making sure to tell him it was delicious before heading back to her table. That had all been fine. It was when she actually got back to the table and saw Vaan and one of the nobles standing squared off next to it.

The noble boy stood, arms crossed lazily in a relaxed, mocking posture. "—can_not_ believe the riff-raff they let in here," Penelo heard him say as she approached.

She could see Vaan's teeth grit and his fist ball up at his side and she didn't even bother to stop and ask what was going on. She set her drink on the table, grabbed Vaan by the arm, said "Excuse us" to the obnoxious noble, and dragged her partner away without half a thought. Outside the ballroom, it was clear that Vaan wasn't going to calm down and since the last thing Penelo wanted to do was embarrass Larsa on his birthday, they'd just left. Caught a cab back to the aerodrome and high-tailed it to the _Surya_.

"What happened?" Penelo had asked Vaan on the cab ride back, but he hadn't wanted to answer. He just shrugged and said that he didn't want to talk about it.

When they got back to their airship, he still refused to say anything and she'd said, "Vaan, seriously, _talk_ to me."

He tore off his white shirt angrily and threw it across the cabin. "Those _people_…" he said, and his voice was filled with disgust. "Pen, you didn't hear what they said about us—about you."

Penelo had got the gist of what happened but not the specifics. Vaan usually didn't get this mad though and she was curious about what had set him off. Penelo put a hand on his arm and said "What do you mean?"

"Nothing," Vaan said with a small shake of his head. "You should have let me punch that guy, I'm telling you."

Penelo was happy to see that he was calming down a little. "That wouldn't have been good for anybody," she said. "What they say—it's not important."

Vaan looked like he was about to argue for a second. He'd inhaled and started to turn his head toward her and she was waiting to counter whatever retort he'd come up with. Instead, after a moment, he just looked at her and said, "I guess so. You're right."

Penelo was so surprised she almost asked him if he was ok. Before she could even form a response, he turned toward her fully, held her gently by the elbows. "I don't think you look bad in that dress," he said. Penelo bit the inside of her lower lip. The thought that no one had said, to her knowledge, that she looked bad in her dress in the first place flared, then flitted away, unimportant.

Something in the air had changed and the warmth she'd felt back at the aerodrome when he'd first taken her arm returned. Vaan turned his eyes away from her and squeezed her arms a bit. He seemed to be deciding something, but she didn't have any idea what.

"Vaan—"

And that was when he kissed her. It was sudden and awkward and she hadn't been expecting it at all—not in the least. But his lips were soft and his hands on her arms were comforting and that close to him it didn't matter that they were in cold Arcadia in the middle of winter. He smelled like a spring day in the Estersand and for a few moments she felt a warm desert breeze whip through her lungs.

Then he pulled away, releasing her and stepping back so quickly she felt as though a bucket of ice water had just been thrown at her. "Sorry," he said, running a hand through his hair. "I don't know what I was thinking."

When he turned away, Penelo panicked. She grabbed his arm and pulled him back. "Wait," she said. "Vaan… I…" and then not quite knowing what else to say, she gave up. She leaned forward, and this time _she_ kissed _him._

#

The letter she wrote to Larsa later to apologize for their quick exit omitted everything about the kiss and the argument Vaan was about to have. It said instead, "_Vaan was ill and we didn't want to make a mess."_ Penelo hadn't wanted to lie but she thought in that case the truth wouldn't benefit anyone.

#

Whatever Penelo had been hoping would happen after Vaan kissed her, didn't. Oh, there was a month of small kisses as they traveled, playful flirting, nights where they sometimes shared a cabin. He'd put his arm around her shoulders when they went places and find small ways to touch her, like reaching up and playing with her braids when they were looking for merchandise at market stands. There were times when he'd weave his fingers through hers while they were flying somewhere, and it just felt so right that she couldn't imagine being happier.

But that all finished when one day he faced her, rubbing the back of his head and refusing to meet her eyes. She knew she wasn't going to like what was coming next. "Penelo," he said and she felt her heart drop as he used her full name. "I think that maybe… maybe we kind of rushed this."

She went numb. It was more than not knowing what to say, it was not having anything _to_ say. Her skin ran cold and her heart sunk down to her stomach. "Yeah," she managed, trying to sound bright. She couldn't though. Her voice sounded dead even to her.

"I mean I just think that maybe we should go back to how we were before," he said. "That was good right?"

This time she forced a smile. "Yeah," she said. "Of course."

A grin broke out across Vaan's face and his shoulders relaxed. "Ok," he said. "I'm gonna head to the market, do you need anything?"

"No," Penelo said, "I'm fine."

"See you later," Vaan said, flipping one of her braids.

Penelo smiled wanly at him. "Yeah," she said. "See you."

Once he was gone, Penelo practically ran for her room. She locked her door, grabbed a pillow, curled up with it in one of the corners of her room and told herself repeatedly that she was not going to cry. She was not going to cry.

#

Larsa had started sending her books along with his letters. At first she'd sort of ignored them, reading a few poems here and there, but spending most of her free time with Vaan. After that stopped she began to spend more time paying attention to them.

After hunts, instead of going to one of the bars with Vaan, she'd head back to the cabin and open a book. At the time of the—and she didn't even know whether she could properly call it a break up or not—_end_ she had two. One was a history called _The Middle Kingdoms_ about Archadian relations with Dalmasca, Nabradia, and Landis. Another was a poetry book by someone that Larsa had mentioned was quite a famous author for generations in Archadia. Since many of the poems seemed to be about love enduring and love lost, Penelo set that book aside and dug into the history.

"What are you always reading for?" Vaan would say. "They miss you at the Sandsea, you know."

And Penelo would just shrug. "I don't really feel like going out."

Sometimes he'd come back drunk and try to kiss her again. Sometimes he wouldn't come back at all until morning. Once in a while she would make an appearance at a bar with him and he'd put his arm around her like nothing had really happened at all. Mostly though, they weren't together, and with Larsa sending her new books all the time, she got more reading done that year than she would have ever thought possible in her life.

#

When the invitation came for Larsa's fifteenth birthday party, her first instinct was to frown at it. It reminded her of all that had happened the year before—the fight Vaan had almost had and the way their relationship had changed after it. Still, she knew it wasn't Larsa's fault and didn't want to assume that everything was just going to be the same as it'd been the year before, so she wrote him saying of course they would come.

Vaan was harder to convince though. She practically had to drag him and they'd nearly gotten into a fight about it.

"I can't stand being around those people," he'd protested.

"But we _never_ see Larsa," she said. "And he has to be surrounded by those people _all the time_."

Vaan had nearly been about to say that he _was_ one of those people, but since it was a thought that didn't quite reach his heart, he didn't mention it. "_Fine_."

And that was that.

Larsa had sent them outfits for their birthdays in the previous year. Vaan had a pair of deep brown pants, shiny black boots, a black belt to match, a white silk shirt with loose fitting sleeves, and an intricately patterned brown and gold vest to wear over it.

Penelo had a dress that was similar in color to the one she'd worn the year before, but with silk sleeves and a cashmere body. The sleeves parted at her shoulders, joining again at her elbows, and then at her wrists. Her collar blossomed around her neck like soft, small waves parting around her head. The body of the dress was a deep, royal blue with patterned gold stitching at her arms, her neck, and down the sides. The skirt itself was two pieces, a white silk underlining and the heavier blue skirt over it, slit around the bottom in a few places so that it was not only easier for her to move, but so the light silk below was visible and swirled when she moved.

Vaan wrinkled his nose after they'd finished dressing. "We look like Archadians," he'd said.

"I think that was the point," Penelo replied, looking at the velvety blue heels that Larsa had sent her to match the dress. "Don't start any fights this year," she said.

"Yeah, yeah."

That year, Larsa had written them specifically not to bring a gift. He told Penelo that he planned to ask her a favor while she was there and that he would not feel right if she brought him a gift in addition, so Penelo had let Vaan finally buy and wrap a Hi-Potion for them to bring.

Larsa met them at the aerodrome again, though it wasn't as surprising this time. The soldiers were still a bit disturbing, but Penelo and Vaan were able to ignore them. "You look beautiful," Larsa told Penelo as he escorted her to their car.

Penelo blushed lightly. "Thank you for the outfits," she said. "We almost look respectable."

"It was no trouble at all," he replied smoothly.

He was taller than she was now, and not by just an inch any more. He was the nearly the same height as Vaan, three or four inches taller than her. She wondered when he would stop growing. Vaan hadn't quite finished until he was at least eighteen.

For dinner, Penelo and Vaan sat at Larsa's table this time. They were introduced as personal friends and when a Senator—Penelo didn't know who exactly it was, but for some reason he reminded her of the noble that Vaan had nearly picked a fight with the previous year—asked who exactly they were, Larsa replied that they were responsible for rescuing him from the Bahamut without missing a beat.

After that, no one really bothered either of them about anything. Though Penelo could've sworn they caught a couple dirty looks she ignored them mostly though. When dinner was finished and the band started up, Larsa had to go and mingle with his guests. "If you have need of anything, feel free to ask Bellamy," he said, referring them to one of his personal butlers.

"Thanks," Vaan said as Larsa left with Basch in tow.

Penelo spent most of her time at the table with Vaan sipping Archadian whisky. He didn't really want to dance and since Larsa was making the rounds and Bellamy wouldn't let them get their own drinks, Penelo was left playing with her skirt and tapping her foot to the music. "This is so boring," Vaan complained.

"We could dance," Penelo suggested. After all, the steps were simple enough and she'd figured them all out while watching.

"I don't like this music," Vaan complained. "It's so… I don't know."

Penelo frowned. It was stiffer than she was used to and the dances were more formal and rigid, but she didn't quite think it was _bad_. "Well, what do you want to do?"

"I don't know," Vaan said, looking around. "I'm going to get another drink. Need one?"

Penelo looked at her glass, still half full, and then up at Bellamy who looked a bit concerned about letting Vaan wander. "No thanks."

"Sir, I am perfectly able to get whatever you wish—" Bellamy began.

"It's all right, Bells," Vaan said. "I want to explore. Don't worry, I'm not gonna cause any trouble."

With Vaan gone, Penelo didn't have much to do but look at her surroundings and watch people twirl around the dance floor. She caught a glimpse of Al-Cid Margrace at the other end of the table. He nodded a hello in her direction, but seemed too deep in conversation to do much more than that. Penelo wondered if this was the sort of thing Marquis Ondore or Queen Ashe would come to or whether birthdays were occasions to simply send well-wishing representatives to, since that would explain Al-Cid's presence in lieu of the Emperor of Rozarria. Vaguely, Penelo wondered why she hand't seen Al-Cid the year before, but she figured it was probably because they were at different tables and she'd left so early.

She saw Larsa go by on the dance floor with a girl Penelo figured was probably a senator's daughter or a member of one of Archadia's other aristocratic families. A stab of jealousy went through her. Even _Larsa_ got to dance. She bit her lip, finished her drink, and resolved to find Vaan and drag him out to the dance floor with her whether he kicked or screamed or she had to pull him by the hair. She was a dancer and there was music and she wanted to _dance_.

Bellamy stood at attention off to her side. His posture was perfect and he seemed ready to serve, but she could tell he was scanning the room for Vaan as well. It was the way his eyes moved, and the furrow in his brow that was so slight Penelo would have missed it had she not been looking for it. He seemed a little worried at his inability to locate her partner.

"Mister Bellamy?" she said, snapping him to attention.

He seemed a little surprised that she'd addressed him that way. His kind, brown eyes widened and she saw his salt and pepper moustache raise just a bit. He seemed to almost fumble over his response. "Y-yes, Miss?"

"I'm going to get another drink too," she said, "And figure out where Vaan went."

"I would be more than happy to search him out for you—" Bellamy started to reply.

But Penelo cut him off with a polite, "Thank you, Mister Bellamy, but I'd really like to see if I can find him on my own."

"Of course, Miss," Bellamy replied with a slight bow.

Penelo smiled at him and he pulled back her chair so she could stand up more easily. She thanked him with a quick nod, and made her way over to the main bar, trying not to rush. Everyone around her wore elaborately designed clothes that seemed more restrictive and complicated than what she and Vaan wore, though their outfits were on par with some of the simpler garments. Larsa seemed to have chosen things that they would be comfortable in and yet would allow them to blend in—Penelo thought it was incredibly thoughtful of him and wondered whether he'd heard the truth about their early exit the year before.

She was just thinking about this and halfway to the bar when someone tapped her on the shoulder. She spun around in surprise, hoping it was Vaan having caught up to her. Instead she realized it was a pair of familiar, but unexpected faces. "Rikken! Elza!" she said, giving them both a quick hug. "I didn't know the two of you knew Larsa."

"We're recent acquaintances," Rikken said, the corners of his lips turned up in an amused smile. "You're looking at the new Imperial Governor of Balfonheim Port," he said, gesturing toward Elza.

"It's part of us trying to hammer out our issues with the Empire," Elza explained at Penelo's even more surprised expression. "Baby steps, you know?"

"It's kind of strange to be here," Rikken said. "You can tell these people aren't used to seeing pirates."

That was probably true, Penelo thought. Neither of them had chosen to wear clothes typical of Archades. They'd worn nice clothes for pirates, but they were still recognizably from Balfonheim. Rikken's shirt was a pressed off white, with only two belts draped across it and no patches. His trousers were a solid, dark blue, but still ballooned around his legs in a way that was obviously out of Archades fashion. Elza wore a red and white high-collared dress that was a little less low-cut than her typical outfit, but still showed a good amount of cleavage. Her skirt flared out just above her knees, showing a good bit of leg and she wore the same tall, black boots she always did.

They were getting more than their fair share of stares and Penelo had to wonder at the self-control they were exercising just to be here. It was more than she could say for Vaan at least.

"Hey," she said, "Have you seen Vaan?"

Elza and Rikken shared a look. "He was over by the bar talking with a pretty Rozarrian girl last we saw him," Rikken said carefully.

This response was apparently not careful enough for Elza, who elbowed him lightly. "Just talking," she emphasized. "And the girl wasn't that pretty. Speaking of Rozarrians, though, was that Al-Cid Margrace sitting with you at Lord Larsa's table?"

Penelo could only nod numbly. It occurred to her that this might be the rest of her life. Chasing after Vaan for a dance only to find that he'd gone off talking to another girl without even bothering to tell her where he was. It made her skin go cold and she suddenly felt like the good spirits she'd had from drinking the whisky had vanished entirely. "Yeah," she said. "I think he's still there."

"I have something I need to speak with him about," Elza said, "We'll see you again later?"

"Of course," Penelo said.

The pair of pirates gave Penelo sympathetic smiles before heading toward Larsa's table. Penelo wondered if she should even bother continuing to look for Vaan, she was almost about to turn back when she realized that she couldn't. It was stupid. So stupid and she knew it, but she had to see for herself.

She continued on, mouth set in a hard line, nearly oblivious to everything else going on around her. When she got to the bar she looked around until she spotted Vaan in one of the corner seats talking to a Rozarrian girl just like Rikken and Elza had said he was. Penelo had no idea what Elza had been talking about. The girl was _extremely_ pretty. She had dark hair, long dark eyelashes, clear olive skin, and a beautiful smile. At the moment she was laughing and something Vaan had said, and he'd picked up a lock of her wavy hair and seemed to be making some comment about it.

Penelo touched one of her braids self-consciously. She guessed that she shouldn't be so surprised. After all, Vaan had told her outright that they were really just friends. Partners. Nothing more than that. Still it _hurt_ in a way that she couldn't quite describe. It felt almost as though she'd been hit by a Marlboro Overking's Putrid Breath and was at once slowed, confused, immobilized, and choking for air.

"Would you like a drink, Miss?" the bartender asked.

She tore her eyes away from the pair at the end of the counter and faced the bartender, trying her best to look like a normal person and not like a gutted fish. "A whisky," she said, "No ice, thanks."

He nodded, poured it, and handed it over to her. Knowing it would be a waste of such quality liquor and not caring at the moment, she drank it in one quick gulp and asked for another. The bartender raised an eyebrow, but poured it for her all the same.

A voice next to her almost made her jump. "You'll want to be careful with that," it was Basch. Penelo still hadn't quite gotten used to how he sounded in his Judge's armor. "It's bound to be stronger than what you're used to," he said. "Age will do that."

Penelo didn't feel as though she was actually fit to communicate with anyone at that moment, but she resolved to try her best. Her insides twisted, but she forced a smile. "I don't usually, I just—" she started, forced to stop when she found that she really didn't have anything to say. "Yeah, thank you." Penelo knew that keeping up appearances was a lost battle. Anyone that knew her as well as Basch did would be able to tell her smile was a fake.

"Lord Larsa has been looking for you on the dance floor," Basch said, mercifully ignoring her obvious attempt at covering her unhappiness and keeping his tone light. "He seemed surprised that you've been absent from it."

Penelo smiled wryly and sipped her drink. It was a little bit funny that she hadn't been dancing, since she loved to so much. And it was so thoughtful of Larsa to have been watching out for her, she supposed. Already she felt the warmth from the whisky run through her. She couldn't quite forget about Vaan and the Rozarrian girl, but she could put them out of her mind for just this little bit. "Nobody's asked me to dance," she said, shrugging.

"Perhaps they thought you were spoken for?" Basch suggested. "I am sure now that you are alone you will attract a partner sooner rather than later."

"Thank you," Penelo said. And that gave her an idea. Because why should she wait around for Vaan? Why couldn't she find some pretty, dark-haired boy of her own to spend time with, if that's what their friendship was going to be like anyway? There were boys who thought she was pretty and wanted to make her laugh and play with her hair and probably even _dance_ with her too. Why did she have to care what Vaan did? "I'll see you later," she said with renewed resolve.

Basch nodded and Penelo headed back to her table, scanning the room over her whisky for someone suitable to befriend. She sat down, watching the room, and had just locked eyes with a dark-haired, olive skinned man who she assumed must be Rozarrian as well and would therefore be a _perfect_ dancing partner, when Larsa popped into her field of view.

"Penelo," he began, "You haven't been dancing."

"I haven't had a partner," she admitted again, thinking about the Rozarrian across the room. She wondered if he was related at all to the girl Vaan was talking to, because wouldn't that be just perfect too?

But then Larsa held his hand out to her and her plan went out the window. Sure, Larsa was pretty and dark-haired and a boy, but Emperor or no Penelo doubted that Vaan was ever going to be _jealous_ of him. "Would you like to dance with me?" And Penelo wasn't about to turn down a friend on his birthday.

"Of course," she said, downing her drink as quickly and gracefully as she could before accepting his invitation. She was a little bit disappointed, but she reasoned that her plan to make Vaan jealous would have probably backfired somehow anyway. Besides it was spiteful and she hadn't really wanted to be spiteful. She _had_ wanted to dance, though, so her smile when she stepped onto the floor with Larsa was genuine.

The band struck up one of the more spirited waltzes and they fell in step with the other couples on the floor. The whisky and the activity had gotten to Penelo's head a bit, and she closed her eyes for a second, tilted her head to catch the feel of the music. She began to move not only in step, but also the way that she felt, adding a twirl as the music seemed to spin, a dip as it ebbed, a flourish with her feet as the violin soared. Larsa kept up with her admirably seeming neither to miss a beat nor fail to anticipate which way she wanted to move.

Larsa had a smile on his face as they turned across the floor and Penelo forgot completely about Vaan, about the Rozarrians. Her whole focus was on the music, her body, and Larsa's steady hand on her waist. Three songs later she was slightly out of breath and she knew that the whisky had most definitely got to her head a little bit when Larsa whispered into her ear, "Would you like to take a short rest?" and his warm breath sent a shiver down her spine.

Penelo almost said no. She could have danced all night and not stopped for anything, but her mouth did feel a bit dry. "I could use some water," she said.

Larsa nodded and kept his hand around her waist as he guided her away from the other dancers. He motioned to one of the servers and water was brought up to them in a matter of seconds. Penelo took a grateful sip of the cool liquid and held on to the glass. "It's so warm in here," she said half-laughing as he tilted her head up to Larsa's to tell him so. With his hand still at her waist and the height difference between them, communicating was a bit awkward.

"Shall we get some fresh air?" he asked.

"That sounds nice," Penelo replied.

Larsa steered her toward a door that opened out into the gardens. The crisp night air was welcome against her skin. It made her shudder slightly, but Larsa's arm was warm against her back and she could feel him standing at her side. They walked along a tiled path for a bit, until they came to a bench near some blooming red and yellow flowers. As Penelo sat, she asked what they were.

"Gaillardia," Larsa replied as he sat next to her. "The gardeners are quite clever. They ensure that no matter the season, there are always flowers blooming here."

"They're very pretty," Penelo said. She set her glass of water on the ground carefully, then crossed her arms against the light chill.

The image of Vaan with the Rozarrian girl hung faintly in the back of her mind, but she tried to ignore it, wanting instead to focus on the night air and the pretty flowers, and the company of her good friend.

They sat in comfortable silence for a moment, before something occurred to Penelo. "Hey, Larsa," she said. "You said in your letter that you were going to ask a favor?"

Penelo thought her eyes must have been playing tricks on her, because she could have sworn that she saw him blush. "It was nothing," he said after a moment, shaking her head. "Just…"

Penelo grabbed his left hand with both of hers and said with enthusiasm, "_Larsa_, you can ask me for anything, you _know _that."

He covered her hands with his free one. "Penelo…" he paused then, looking away slowly and then back again. He raised a gloved hand to cradle her cheek. Penelo thought it was a little unusual, but his hand was warm against her and she leaned into it. He seemed to be thinking about something as he looked at her, and she was about to ask him what it was when he moved her head toward his gently, but firmly.

She supposed she should have seen it coming, but somehow she hadn't. She'd expected him to touch his forehead to hers or something else affectionate and friendly and cute, but instead his lips met hers just lightly. Her eyes flew open in shock and she very nearly pulled back, but he moved his head in toward her. His other hand left hers, moved up so that his slender fingers stretched across the back of her neck. His lips were thinner than Vaan's and he smelled so different. The air around him reminded her of a verdant lake in winter with still, cool waters. Where Vaan was all warmth and desert winds, Larsa was steady, deep, and calm.

She closed her eyes again and let him deepen the kiss, his lips prising hers open gently. It was about when she felt the tip of his tongue flit across her top lip and his finger circle gently behind her ear in a way that was so tantalizing that it made her nearly want to whimper that alarm bells went off. What was she doing, what was she _thinking _kissing Larsa? He was still just a kid and her cheeks flushed as she pulled away from him. That whisky was definitely sterner stuff than she'd been used to.

"Larsa!" she exclaimed. And she wanted to apologize, but she didn't quite know what for. _Sorry for kissing you? _she wondered. _Sorry you're too young for me?_

"I apologize," he said, separating his hands from hers immediately. "I've been too forward."

And Penelo was shaking her head, "No, no," she said, "I just… you're so _young_," she fumbled. "You couldn't even join the military in Dalmasca."

But he _could_ rule a country, and wasn't there something funny about that?

"And how old must one be to join the ranks of the Dalmascan armed forces?" he inquired and Penelo was relieved to see that there wasn't anything like hurt or embarrassment in his eyes. Nothing but wry curiosity.

"Seventeen," Penelo said adding mentally that it was still too young—for the military at least, too many people died much too young that way.

"Hmm," Larsa said, nodding. "Let's not think of it again then, would that be all right with you? I suppose I have had a touch more wine than I should have—I am quite embarrassed."

"No, no," Penelo said again, "It's my fault, the whisky, you know? Of course let's forget about it." The whole thing had been so strange, she knew that she would have no trouble pretending it hadn't happened.

Larsa stood up and offered her his hand again, "We should get back," he said with a small smile. "We've missed far too many dances."

Penelo couldn't argue with that. She took his hand and let him lead her back inside.

#

Later when Vaan asked her where she and Larsa had disappeared to for that little bit, she simply told him they'd been touring the gardens.

Before he could ask any more prying questions, she asked him one of her own: "How did it go with that Rozarrian girl?"

He shrugged. "Her brother came by and made it clear she was off limits," he said, not even bothering to ask how she'd known about it.

Penelo nodded and wondered whether the girl's brother had been the man she'd seen across the room.

"I guess all nobles are kind of stuffy," Vaan said. "Not just Archadians."

"Well," Penelo poked, "To be fair I wouldn't want you near my sister either."

Vaan made a face at her, and as she made one back, she remembered suddenly that she never found out what Larsa had really wanted. But since they'd both promised to forget about it, she did the only sensible thing and put the thought out of her mind immediately.

* * *

><p>CHAPTER THREE PREVIEW:<p>

_The sad nature of nationalism  
><em>

* * *

><p>NOTES: On climate, I figure that Rabanastre is probably within 20 degrees of the equator and pretty much warm all the time, whereas Archades is sort of like Southern California-ish as far as latitude goes. So the cold in Archades is relative—it's not like snowing cold, it's like 50-60 F cold. I have to admit to going on personal interpretation here, since I live in an area where the temperature pretty much stays between the mid 70s-high 80s and we think 60 degrees is like freezing here, so I assume Vaan and Penelo would probably feel the same. In C I think 70s-80s is like 20-30 or something. On writing, I went back and read the first chapter and it seems a little bit stilted to me in comparison to other things I've written. I tried to hammer that out more with this chapter, but if you see the writing gradually change that's the reason. I may go back later and fix the first chapter, but I don't want to constantly rewrite everything—then I'll never get anywhere... :(<p>

THANK YOU: FFXIIAS, jesswilliams, and Yuna Black for reviewing! I changed the summary since jesswilliams said she (he?) almost passed over it. Is it better than it was before? :S I really appreciate your comments—three reviews is three more than I thought I was going to get!


	3. three: the sad nature of nationalism

ON YOUR WINGS

_chapter three: the sad nature of nationalism_

* * *

><p>Just a week after Larsa's party, a letter from Ashe found them in Bhujerba. It was so rare of her to write, much less request that they visit and as soon as possible that Penelo didn't see how they could turn her down. Vaan was a little more hesitant. "We'll miss our mark in the Lhusu Mines," he'd complained. "Why does Ashe have to see us <em>now<em>?"

"I don't know, but she _is_ our friend and she never asks us for anything," Penelo said. "She's also the Queen."

"Yes and her Queenliness has barely had any time for us since her coronation," Vaan replied, "Can't you tell her we're busy?"

Penelo had simply ignored him then and set a course for Rabanastre. "The _Surya_ and I are headed back to Rabanastre," she'd said. "_You_ can stay here if you want."

Vaan had made a face at her, but finally agreed to go. Penelo had always thought that Vaan had a small crush on Ashe when they'd been travelling before and that he'd been a little disappointed that she was completely uninterested in him. All that was long past, though. Penelo didn't mind that Ashe didn't have time for them. She did, after all have a whole kingdom to rebuild—a kingdom and a half if they were counting East Nabradia. Rabanastre might have been restored, but Penelo and Vaan saw far too many places—rural areas away from the capital that had yet to rebuild completely.

A lot of time and effort had gone into just rebuilding and reorganizing Rabanastre after the battle with the Empire. Penelo couldn't even think how difficult it must be to help those rural outposts, the towns that had sprung up out of refugee camps that didn't even have places for airships to dock. Not to mention the people that lived across the Jagds. Ashe couldn't afford to throw grand birthday parties the way that Larsa did. Too many of Dalmasca's resources were focused on rebuilding and it would look unseemly for the Queen to make such expenses when a good deal of her citizens still lived in what could only be called shanty-towns.

Vaan was still grumbling as they pulled into the aerodrome in Rabanastre. "What kind of sky pirates are this friendly with royalty, anyway?" he was saying. "I mean I get that we're loyal subjects of Dalmasca and all, technically, but aren't we also citizens of the skies and masters of the hunt or something like that?"

"It's just a visit," Penelo said, winding down the controls so that they could dock smoothly. "Stop whining. We can drop by Migelo's afterward too, see how everyone's doing."

"We just saw them two weeks ago," Vaan said. "They're going to start thinking we live here or something."

"We do though," Penelo said, "Sort of. She offered us houses, remember?"

"We're _sky pirates_," Vaan said. "We didn't need houses."

"I guess so," Penelo said. At the time Ashe had made the offer she'd agreed with Vaan wholeheartedly. Sometimes though it didn't seem like such a bad idea to have some kind of permanent residence. She guessed their dock at the aerodrome was something like that, but it wasn't quite the same. Once in a while she wondered what it would be like to have a real bed that was really hers and that couldn't be moved to another city while she was asleep.

"Whatever," Vaan said. "Let's just get this over with."

#

When they reached the palace, a servant speedily escorted them to the main drawing room. Their shoes clicked against the tiled floors as they made their way down a few short, well-lit hallways. The servant opened a large door for them and motioned them inside.

Ashe was already seated there on a pale red chair, having a cup of coffee. She wore a light, yet intricately designed white dress trimmed in gold with bars of red down her short flared sleeves. Her crown rested on the table next to her for the moment. It was similar to the one her father had once worn, but lighter and smaller. The same red-tailed, white braids of silk lay pooled around it, having been transferred over from the original. Ashe seemed to have been considering it quietly before Vaan and Penelo made their entrance, but she looked up to greet them just as they stepped through the door.

"Penelo, Vaan," she said, and already Penelo could hear the strain in her voice. "So good of you to come. Please, sit." She motioned to a couch that matched hers and was situated across the coffee table from her seat.

Before Penelo even had a chance to return her greeting, Ashe was already saying, "I hear that you were in Archades just last week for Lord Larsa's birthday celebration?"

"Yeah," Vaan said, as servants poured coffee for both him and Penelo. "Hey how come you never go to those things?"

Penelo had wondered that herself once, but Ashe's reaction to the question made it seem like Vaan shouldn't have asked. The Queen's lips thinned and something seemed to harden in her eyes. It was a look that Penelo recognized well from many discussions about the Empire and nethicite on their journey to restore her to the thrown. The face that she made when she felt angry, powerless, and just a little bit unsure of herself.

Vaan recognized it too and, for once, fell tactfully silent next to Penelo without her having to elbow him or kick him or anything.

"Actually," the Queen said, "That matter is related to the one I called you here to discuss." She waved her servants away and they cleared the room with efficient speed. Ashe waited until the door had shut soundly behind them before speaking again.

"As you are well aware I am the Queen of Dalmasca and Regent of Eastern Nabradia," she began, "These responsibilities do not weigh lightly on me—both countries have borne the brunt of war, whole cities have been laid to waste, and many of my people—of _our_ people still live in makeshift towns with no real homes and no real chance at earning a livelihood and there is little I can do to help them."

Her hands balled into fists in her lap. "The treasury has nearly been emptied," she admitted, "And so many people are unable to work. So many farms, so many businesses were destroyed. It will take generations for us to recover completely, and at this rate we may never," she said. "Archadia has ruined our kingdoms and paid but a pittance to help rebuild them."

And of course none of what Ashe had said was really news to them. They'd seen it with their own eyes, though they hadn't heard the whole story. It had never even occurred to Penelo that Archadia might be responsible for helping to rebuild Dalmasca or that the Kingdom was in such dire straits that help was necessary. Yet Ashe seemed to believe it was so and from the slow progress Penelo had witnessed on her travels, she couldn't quite say that it _wasn't_. She felt her blood go cold and didn't have to look at Vaan to know that he was frowning next to her. There was something that Ashe had said without quite saying it.

_Archadia_ has ruined our kingdoms and refuses to help us rebuild them. That almost translated quite simply into _Larsa_ knows what his brother did and has no desire to make it right. Penelo didn't like the implication, but she couldn't deny either.

"What does that have to do with us?" Vaan asked, and Penelo knew he wasn't asking what the people of Dalmasca had to do with them, he was asking what a pair of sky pirates that were so usually beneath the Queen's notice could possibly do to help.

"What we truly need are greater reparations from Archadia so that we can rebuild, yet we have not the size nor the force to demand them," Ashe explained. "You are friends of Lord Larsa, closer than I ever was. If you could somehow influence him, make him see reason…"

And there it was. Penelo had to wonder why Ashe thought that they could influence Larsa better than she could. Strictly speaking, they were nobodies. Commoners. The fact that they knew either Ashe or Larsa in the first place was a complete fluke.

"You think we can talk him into giving us money?" Vaan expressed exactly what Penelo had been thinking succinctly, though a little more bluntly than she would have put it herself.

"My negotiations with Archadia have failed time and again, and the people in the country towns are beginning to despair. Those living in East Nabradia are especially disheartened," Ashe said. "I would not ask you to do this if I had many other options."

Normally, Penelo wouldn't have wanted to get involved. Neither would Vaan. It was politics and they both tried to stay out of those as much as possible these days. But at the moment Penelo couldn't quite help thinking about all the luxurious food they'd had in Archades, the clothes that people wore, and the decorations that Larsa had been able to furnish just for a birthday party. She had to think too about a village they'd visited up toward the Mosphoran Highwaste to pick up a hunt, where everyone had looked downtrodden and hungry and the merchants were desperate for business despite the fact that they hadn't much to sell at all. In fact there were a lot of hunts around areas like that. Especially in Nabradia—old battlegrounds seemed to attract monsters like moths to a flame.

Vaan seemed like he was about to say something, but Penelo cut him off. "We'll do it," she said quickly.

"Huh?" Vaan said, raising his eyebrows in surprise. She knew he wouldn't have expected her to agree to get in between Larsa and Ashe, but she didn't quite care.

She thought of Kytes and Filo and all the other kids in Lowtown. She thought of kids just like them, who didn't even _have_ a Lowtown to call home or a Migelo to take care of them. And it was with that thought that she looked at Vaan sternly before turning to face Ashe.

"_We'll do it_." She repeated. "We'll try our best."

Ashe's face softened for a moment, at least one small care done away with. "Thank you."

#

Usually, Penelo tried not to think about her brothers as much as possible. It wasn't that she didn't miss them or she didn't love them, it was that when she thought of them sometimes it made her angry. It was something she hid well, because she knew that anger wouldn't benefit anyone. At first she'd wanted to blame _someone_ for their deaths. She'd wanted it to be Archadia's fault, but after her parents died too—after the Empire took over—she had people to take care of and Vaan had been angry enough for the both of them.

But she never forgot them. She could remember like it was yesterday, the last time she saw each of them.

Her oldest brother had been the first of their family to go to war. She'd tugged on his trousers and asked him why he was leaving them and he'd cupped her face with his hands, knelt down to look her in the eye, and said, "Our country needs me."

When her second brother left, she asked him why he had to go too, why the eldest hadn't come back, and what did the stupid country matter anyway. He'd said, "Our people are getting hurt, Penelo. We can't just let them do that and not try to help."

And when her father left, she clung to his leg, she wouldn't let go. Her mother had to peel her off and she tried to run screaming after him. She kept asking why, why, why did everybody have to go and all he did was brush a tear off her cheek, fold a feather into her hair and say gently, "I love you, your mother, and your brothers more than anything."

So much had been lost—was still being lost. So much suffering with nothing gained at the end.

When she'd been younger she hadn't cared about the country—only about her family. Because what did Dalmasca really matter for if everyone you loved had to die to keep it? But now…

Now she couldn't imagine that so many people had died and all they had to show for it were shanty towns and blown up farms. She had never really thought about politics much, but when she thought about _that_… it was something she couldn't stand.

#

Larsa didn't expect them to visit again so soon, but he managed to clear a Sunday afternoon to see them. When he met them at the aerodrome he could tell something was a little different, but he offered Penelo his arm as she stepped out of the _Surya_ like nothing had changed. He suspected that things might be a little different after the kiss, and had no way of knowing that it was the last thing on Penelo's mind.

Penelo, for her part, was trying her best to be the same as always. No matter what Ashe had told her, she couldn't believe that Larsa was intentionally withholding reparations from Dalmasca. She didn't want to make any judgments until she'd heard his side of the story—they were _friends_ after all.

"It's rare for you to visit twice in one month," Larsa said, his tone conversational yet curious as he walked Penelo to his car. "Or twice in one year. In fact, I think this may be the first time since the war."

"Yeah," Penelo remarked. "I guess you're right."

"Might I ask the occasion?" Larsa said.

Vaan, who had been trailing behind them, leaned forward, scratching his head and said, "We kinda just need to talk."

Larsa's eyebrows scrunched for just a second before his normal expression returned. Penelo very nearly missed the confused look.

"Of course," he said, "We shall go to my study."

"That would be nice," Penelo said smiling in an attempt to reassure him.

Larsa's face, at that moment, was completely inscrutable.

#

Penelo still couldn't read his face when they got to his study. He offered them seats on the same white settee they'd occupied at his fourteenth birthday before setting himself on an armchair of the same set that was angled toward them. "You had something to discuss?" he asked, his tone almost perfectly even. Penelo had never seen him look more like a politician.

"Yeah," Vaan said, rubbing his nose. "About that…"

"Why won't you help rebuild Dalmasca?" Penelo asked, leaning forward, her eyebrows pinched and lips set in seriousness. She'd wanted to approach the matter more delicately, but seeing the way he sat, his face like that, she just _couldn't_.

Larsa's eyes widened in momentary shock before he recovered himself. It was quite obviously not the conversation he'd been expecting to have. Even the ever present Basch stirred by the fire, turning to pay more attention to what they were saying.

"I see… you've been speaking with Lady Ashe?" Larsa asked, his voice measured.

And Penelo couldn't contain her frustration. She had asked a clear question and was looking for a clear answer, but instead he seemed to be trying to dodge the issue. "_Larsa_," she said. "Archadia could so much to help rebuild—there are so many people who still don't even have _homes_."

He was implacable. Penelo thought she'd seen more expression in certain statues and that worried her. Larsa had never written this way in his letters and to her memory she had never seen him like this before either. But then how much had she really seen him? How well could she really know him? They were doubts she tried her best to quash, but she couldn't help the uneasiness that worked its way under her skin.

"Penelo," Larsa said calmly. "It is not so simple. Archadia has been in a war as well—"

"You throw huge birthday parties when people can't even eat properly," Vaan interrupted. "Nobody in Archades has really lost _anything_."

The statement horrified Penelo. Of all the things to say and all the people to say it to. One of her hands flew to her mouth and the other smacked Vaan across the arm reflexively, she hissed his name in admonition, but her partner seemed to have already realized what he'd said. He squinted and a corner of his mouth lifted in a wide grimace as he raised his hands, trying to think of something to say to apologize.

It was too late though, Larsa's gray eyes had turned to steel. "We must agree to disagree on this point, Vaan," he said slowly.

"Whoa, hey, Larsa, I didn't mean—"

Larsa held up a hand to silence him and to Penelo's surprise, Vaan actually shut up. She could only assume it was a mixture of Vaan feeling sorry for implying that Larsa losing his family was irrelevant and Larsa's actual authority.

The emperor turned to Penelo and for once his title meant something to her. He wasn't wearing his crown, but he _was _wearing an Imperial purple robe over his straight black trousers and dark blue shirt with billowing sleeves that each had a bar of velvet running from shoulder to wrist with the Solidor crest worked carefully into its design. His shoulders were shielded with gold plating on which the seal of Archadia was embossed. His collar was high and stiff, his tall boots were trimmed with gold, and when he drew himself up—showing just a slight improvement in his already exceptional posture—she could almost see the ghost of Vayne's face buried in his expression.

She had always been impressed by how mature he was, how well-spoken he was, but she saw now that even in spite of all that she'd never stopped thinking of him as a boy. Fifteen years old—he was still young, but what had he accomplished at age twelve? What kind of man was he growing into? It was hard to say. Hard to imagine that the teenager sitting in front of her was the same boy who'd had his head pet by Al-Cid Margrace, who'd run around in green and red boots all the time. Hard to grasp that he was—perhaps always had been—someone to be reckoned with. A boy maybe, but a boy that any rational person would be a fool not to take seriously.

She recalled again, the weight of him against the back of her chair that fateful day they'd sped away from Bahamut. The whole of the Empire bearing down on his shoulders. It was something she'd always known, but really, she hadn't _known_.

"There are limits to what an emperor can do even in the best of times," he said, addressing Penelo. "Dealing with the Senate has been more… challenging, in light of what my brother has wrought. I must choose my battles carefully; ever mindful of what is best for my people."

That statement stuck with Penelo. Larsa had always been polite, always been politic, they'd been friends, and the subject of their being from two different countries had never been an issue. But it was a fact. A fact that in another time might not matter so much, but that was so important just then.

"So you're saying the people of Dalmasca and Nabradia aren't important?" Vaan asked.

Larsa shook his head. "Of course _all_ people are important," he began, "However the Senate views the reconstruction of what they refer to as 'the Middle Kingdoms' as a low priority. It is not an issue that dwells on the minds of most Archadians and would necessitate a decrease in funding to other areas or an increase in taxes both of which most Senators are loath to do. I have presented Lady Ashe's proposals to several of them, privately, and they were unpopular, to say the least of it."

"So everybody is important," Penelo repeated, "But some people are more important than others." And she knew she was being a little bit unfair when she said it. Would she put the needs of Archadians over the needs of Dalmascans? Not readily, but the Archadians seemed to have so much it was hard to imagine they couldn't help at all. The people in Archades central had so much gil they traded in pieces of _sandalwood_ to distinguish higher nobles from lower. It was ridiculous.

"You misunderstand me," Larsa said. "As the emperor of Archadia, my primary concern must always be the welfare of the Archadian citizenry. Part of that is accomplished through accords with the Senate. Trade ships can pass safely through the area whether there are cities or refugee camps and that is what the Senate primarily sees Dalmasca and Nabradia as—a profitable trade route. The Senate, therefore, has no interest in rebuilding either kingdom. It is not a matter on which it would be easy or wise for me to fight them. Besides that, they believe that the relinquishment of Eastern Nabradia is part of their just compensation."

"But the Nabradian territories need even more rebuilding than Dalmasca," Penelo said, "They've just put more of the work on Lady Ashe."

"I have never said that I agreed with this belief," Larsa said plainly. "I merely submit that it is a difficult one to argue with. The Senate has always been trenchant, mean, and sniping. On this matter they are no different."

Vaan leaned back in his chair, throwing up his hands. "You're ok with this?" he asked Basch pointedly.

"It is my duty to serve Lord Larsa," Basch said, unwilling or unable to provide an opinion.

"It _was_ your duty to serve Dalmasca."

Basch shrugged at this and turned back to the fire.

Vaan sighed and turned his attention back to Larsa. "So there are things you _will_ fight with the Senate about, but not Dalmasca or Nabradia, that's what you're saying right."

Larsa nodded. "The Senators are all landed gentry. They do have a tendency to forget that there are citizens of Archadia from all economic backgrounds. Rabanastre has been rebuilt and the Senate believes that it is the only part of Dalmasca that really had to be."

To Penelo, it was clear the discussion wasn't really going anywhere. Larsa had his priorities and Dalmasca wasn't one of them—couldn't be one of them, if what he was saying was correct. And that was fine, she thought. It wasn't something that could be helped. He had responsibilities just the way that Ashe did, the way that her brothers thought they did, the way that she did now. "I get it," she said, before Vaan could argue more. "You need to take care of your people."

Larsa tilted his head slightly, regarding her with a thoughtful expression. "That is correct."

Penelo stood up and Larsa followed her example although this he did with just the slightest uncertainty. Her posture was solid with conviction. She had to make a point, to draw a line in the sand where one was needed. It wasn't something she wanted to do, but there was something… Something about the whole situation that she couldn't exactly walk away from either.

"Well, we need to take care of _ours_."Penelo said. Her voice was gentle and sad. This wasn't the way she'd thought this was going to end at all. She held her hand out to him for a friendly handshake. Larsa took it, his gloved hand feeling almost alien against her own. His handshake was firm, but not overly so.

Vaan had gotten up behind her and was saying a goodbye to Basch.

"Penelo—" Larsa began, and she saw his posture slack just the slightest as though he was done being emperor for the moment and wanted simply to be Larsa.

"Larsa," she interrupted. "I don't… I don't think we should write any more." Maybe they could be friends once it was all over. But for now it was more important that he was Archadian and she was Dalmascan and she hated it, but she couldn't see any way around it.

His lips thinned and his face went white, but he nodded politely and took a step back from her. "If that is what you wish, I will no longer trouble you with my correspondence."

Penelo nodded. "Goodbye Larsa," she said, walking out of the room.

Vaan trailed after her. "Hey," he was saying, "Sorry… you know… yeah…"

It wasn't that she didn't want to be friends with him. She knew it wasn't his fault, not really, but that didn't matter. For what she had planned… they _couldn't_ exchange letters and it was better for him to think that she was mad at him than to know the truth.

#

In the _Surya_ Vaan practically dove into the pilot's chair. "Let's get out of here," he said. "Just plot us a course anywhere that's not Archadia."

Penelo nodded, taking her seat. She dialed in a flight path to Balfonheim Port quickly.

"Hey," Vaan said, "I never expected you to say you were going to stop writing him. Are you ok? I know you two were close."

She wasn't really ok. She felt sick and nervous and terrible, but she couldn't tell Vaan all that—not just then. And it didn't matter anyway. She'd looked at the circumstances, thought about what needed to be done, and in her heart she felt she'd made the right decision.

"It's something he said," Penelo replied absently, attention focused on the controls. "We need to get a message to Balthier."

"He said a lot of things," Vaan scrunched up his face. "And hey why do we need to talk to Balthier."

"As long as the trade ships can get through safely, the Senate won't pay attention," Penelo pressed her hand against her forehead, trying to remember. "It was something like that, right?"

"I guess so," Vaan said, "Yeah he said something like that."

"Don't you get it, Vaan?" Penelo nearly snapped. Her temper was wearing thin after everything that happened, and the stress of what she was going to try to propose… it nearly set her off.

"What?"

Penelo sighed to calm herself down, and made sure to speak slowly so that couldn't miss what she was saying, "What if the trade ships _can't_ get through safely?"

Vaan's eyes turned big as saucers on his face. "No way…"

Penelo didn't bother answering him, she just repeated:

"We need to get a message to Balthier."

And thought back to one of the letters she'd received from Larsa two years ago. One that had worried her so much it still stuck clear in her mind, about Balfonheim and what the pirates there were doing.

_A dangerous example for other territories, is right, _she thought.

The _Surya's_ glossair rings rushed to life beneath them.

* * *

><p>CHAPTER FOUR PREVIEW:<p>

_Danger, scheming, desperation  
><em>

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><p>NOTES: I think I should mention that in this story Revenant Wings doesn't exist, becauuuuuse I didn't play it. Also I know it's not canon, but I just split Nabradia into Eastern and Western territories with the Western Nabradia part of Archadia and Eastern Nabradia under Dalmascan rule as part of the war settlement, since Ashe was married to Rasler when Nabradia was seized, because lots of refugees from Nabradia fled to Dalmasca anyway, and because what's a good war without some random reassignment of territory? So that's what that's about. The next chapter will probably be up around next friiiiday?<p>

THANK YOU: Kiki, Yuriski-1st, Ischemia, and ShyWriter for reviewing! You guys are awesome and I can't tell you how happy I am that three more people actually read this story! Kiki, I know how you feel about all the unfinished fics. I played the game, got addicted to the idea of this couple, and then hit massive withdrawal. Yuriski, I have no clue. I haven't played FFTA2 in a long time, but maybe?


	4. four: danger, scheming, desperation

ON YOUR WINGS

_chapter four: danger, scheming, desperation  
><em>

* * *

><p>Larsa stood on his balcony, hands clasped behind his back, staring out over Archades. Cars sped by beneath him, people walked around, looking small from this distance. The whole of his city teemed with life. It was a difficult task being responsible for those lives. For the whole of the Archadian Empire, whose territory spanned so far north there were places it snowed half the year. There were territories, far removed from the capital that resembled Dalmasca greatly and pressure for improvement there. His mind was constantly occupied with plans for improving transportation, plans for enhanced food production, plans for developing rural areas, the small political conflicts among his people, regional governments. Bankers. Those were his <em>least<em> favorite.

Yet in all of that, he'd always had room for that one person.

"My feelings were… childish," he stated.

"I do not believe so," Basch said, coming to stand by the window with him. "They seem to have simply been mistimed."

"And what would have been a good time?" Larsa asked, pointedly. "She thinks me a child. Even that aside she has the lowest possible opinion of me."

Basch shook his head. "From all that I have talked to her, I can only say gather that Penelo has the _highest_ possible opinion of you and from what I witnessed earlier, she is well aware that you are not a child."

"Then why would she—" Larsa began, turning to Basch. He thought the better of himself, though, shook his head, and went back to looking out the window. "It matters not. She is a Dalmascan commoner of disreputable occupation, who has already been claimed by another."

"Is that what you really believe, Lord Larsa?"

He shook his head and went back to looking out over his city. "There is fear of drought in the midlands, a group of bandits is harassing caravans in the west, the northern lands may run into an oil shortage this winter, and all I can think about is how much I wish I could write her about it."

They stood in silence for a while, watching the world go by under them. Clouds moved slow across the sky. Airships docked at the aerodrome, took off again. Larsa's paperwork lay forgotten on his desk.

"Do you think she will ever speak to me again?"

"I believe in time, all things will be resolved."

#

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Vaan asked. He touched her arm gently, "We don't _have_ to get involved."

They were already late to meet Balthier and Fran, but they leaned against a low stone wall outside the Whitecap instead of going in anyway. Penelo's hands lay flat against the top of the wall, supporting her. Vaan's hand had moved closer to hers and he brushed her pinky with his. "Seriously," he said, "I'm with you all the way, but if you don't want to do it we can just tell Balthier we were planning a treasure hunt or something. We don't have to be responsible for this."

Ever since she'd told him he'd been supportive, but concerned. It was the kind of thing that he'd always wanted to do but she'd always said no too. She didn't like the idea of real pirating, of stealing things from other people. It always seemed so wrong to her, especially now that no one was at war. But now she was talking about purposely raiding Archadian ships—it seemed strange to him.

"We should be though," Penelo said. "We can't just leave it all to everyone else."

"Let's go in then," Vaan shrugged. "If you're ready."

Penelo nodded, "Yeah… they're probably waiting."

#

The Whitecap bustled with activity even though it was just the afternoon when they entered it, and the noise rushed around them as they stepped through the door. Balthier and Fran were already seated when Vaan and Penelo walked in, dodging busy waitresses and drunken patrons to get to their table.

"You know," Balthier said, contemplating his drink. "It's rather impolite to be late to your own meetings." He took a sip as Vaan and Penelo sat down and ordered. "This is going on _your_ tab, by the way."

Penelo made a face at him while the waitress set drinks in front of her and Vaan. She thanked the woman with a smile and told her they would keep their tab open.

"I think _you_ owe _us_ a drink for that lizard tail thing," Vaan countered, picking up his drink.

"It was a perfectly reasonable venture," Balthier replied. "I had _thought_ it quite idiot proof, but well…"

"Hey, what are you trying to say?"

"We have business, do we not?" Fran said, cutting short what would have been a too-long round of bantering.

"Important business," Penelo added.

Balthier rested his elbows on the table, folded his hands together, and set them against his chin. "Is this 'important business' going to profitable, do you think? Or is this another of your silly little hunts?"

"That's not _all _we do," Vaan protested. "But if Penelo's right it should be really profitable."

Penelo took a quick look around the Whitecap. On the one hand, what she had to say should probably be secret. On the other hand, this was _Balfonheim_, and even though the bar was much more crowded than she'd expected it to be it was loud enough to drown out their conversation. The mood was convivial and no one really looked suspicious, besides it was a city of _pirates. _Still she thought it might be best to keep certain of the details hidden.

"We shouldn't talk about _everything_ here," she said finally.

"You have important business that cannot be spoken of in public?" Fran asked, her ears pricking slightly.

Balthier raised an eyebrow. "What sort of trouble are you trying to pull us into, I wonder?"

"It has to do with Archadian merchant ships," she said.

"Well," Balthier replied, lifting his glass. "Then it probably is business best discussed in private."

#

The _Strahl_ had not changed much since the last time Penelo had been on it. Penelo and Vaan took seats behind the pilot and navigator chairs where Balthier and Fran sat, swiveling to face them.

"Better to talk on the _Strahl_ than that flying crate you call a ship," Balthier had said as they left the Whitecap.

"The _Surya's_ a great ship," Vaan had shot back, crossing his arms angrily. "It's bigger than yours."

Balthier waved a hand dismissively, "And slower, but I suppose if you don't mind flying a mail crate it's a fine ship..."

It had been up to Fran and Penelo to stop the bickering and move the conversation to the aerodrome. Once they were there, everyone settled in and Penelo thought about how best to put her proposal.

Balthier crossed his arms in his seat, raising an eyebrow at the younger girl. "Well," he said, "What is this secret business now?"

"Coordinated attacks on Archadian merchant ships passing through Dalmascan airspace," Penelo said without hesitating.

_Both_ of Balthier's eyebrows shot up at that one, but for less than a moment. "You don't think the Royal Order of Dalmasca will have anything to say about such blatant criminal activity in their skies?"

Penelo shook her head. "I think there are far too few of them to really stop us," she said. "And what's more is I think they'll help us."

The sky pirate's face broke into a grin. "All right," he said, "I'm listening."

Penelo had mostly worked the plan out in her head and related it to Balthier as best she could. They would need help of course. Help Penelo expected they would find in Balfonheim as many of the pirates there had once been citizens of Nabradia or Landis or Dalmasca and harbored no tender feelings toward the Empire. Beyond that they would take to the skies and hit as many Archadian merchant ships as they could that passed over Dalmasca, Nabradia, or Balfonheim. Just the way the pirates of Balfonheim had done two years before, forcing Archadian ships to divert their course, only they would attack at random and make sure that no course was safe.

They would take the money and goods they stole from the merchant ships and hand half over to town leaders to help fund the enterprises that Queen Ashe's advisors had determined were most important. To that effect, the Knights of Dalmasca would have to be deployed to the cities, supposedly to try to restore order. What Penelo hoped was that they would be able to take Dalmascan airspace hostage in order to force negotiations with Archadia.

Balthier listened to all this with rapt attention, a hand placed under his chin as he considered what she said. When she'd finished outlining her plan, he shared a look with Fran. Penelo had no idea what they were thinking and she felt a little bit nervous about her suggestion.

Finally, the pair turned to her, their faces still hard to read.

"It is a risky proposition," Fran said, solemnly.

"But profitable, certainly," Balthier added. "I feel as though it's missing something though."

"What's that?" Vaan asked, piping up next to Penelo.

"Well this isn't just an act of piracy," Balthier said. "It's an act of goodwill toward the people of Nabradia and the Dalmascan countryside. Why not make use of that?"

"An even riskier proposition," Fran pointed out.

Penelo still had no idea where Balthier was going with all his talk, but Vaan ended up asking him for her.

"What do you mean, make use of it?"

"We'll scare the Archadians even more if we let them know we're unified," Balthier explained. "Behind a cause, a banner, a common figure. They know that Ashelia B'nargin Dalmasca will never go to war with them, but what if she is in danger of being overthrown by some rebel group? They'll have to send support to her."

"Or they will simply send warships back into Dalmasca," Fran said.

"Larsa would never do that," Penelo said with conviction. "He would do anything possible to avoid fighting."

"Precisely," Balthier said.

"That makes it no less dangerous," Fran said. "If it were only Lord Larsa's decision, we would not be speaking of this, would we?"

"Even the Senate won't risk picking a fight with Rozarria," Vaan said. "Their military leaders still think they can profit from a war and Dalmasca is supposed to be strictly neutral territory. The Archadians can't deploy their military there without risking a fight."

Penelo knew that what Vaan was saying was true, but she couldn't help but agree with Fran. There were too many things that could go wrong just attacking the ships in the first place, never mind amassing something that could look like a small army to do it. "It _is_ risky," she said.

"Why don't you go to the Queen and set up a meeting," Balthier suggested. "I'll have a talk with Rikken and see how things shake out on that end. Then we'll compare notes and see which way the wind is blowing, shall we?"

_That_ at least was something Penelo could agree with for certain.

#

The next day, Penelo and Vaan made for Rabanastre. Ashe expected them to report on how their talk with Larsa had gone, but the pair had different ideas. Balthier had suggested they meet that night at the Palace end of the Garamsythe Waterway and Penelo had a note telling Ashe where to be and at what time to discuss the future of Dalmasca.

Ashe had no idea what they were planning and so could only assume that when Vaan and Penelo walked in looking cheerful, but serious, that they'd been successful. "Has he agreed to help us?" she asked, as soon as the servants had cleared the room. Her expression was light and she seemed more hopeful than she'd looked for a long time.

"Well," Vaan said as he rubbed the back of his head. "No."

Penelo watched the hope vanish from Ashe's face like a fire being smothered out. The Queen stared into her coffee quietly. She seemed more let down than surprised and she confirmed it when she said, "I see… Of course I didn't expect, but I'd hoped…"

"It's not Larsa," Penelo said, trying to soften Vaan's bluntness after the fact. "It's that the Senate doesn't think rebuilding Dalmasca or East Nabradia is important enough."

Ashe nodded. This was no news to her. "Yes, I've heard Lord Larsa say so…"

"We have a plan," Penelo said, sliding her note toward Ashe's side of the table. "But we can't talk about it just now."

Ashe put her hand over the note, nodded at Penelo. "Right."

#

Penelo could hear the water drip and rush through the tunnels behind her, and it gave her a little shiver. She felt like there was still some kind of slime splattered on her from the monsters they'd had to take care of to get to the palace. The air was cool around them and Penelo checked her arm under the lamplight to make sure nothing green had got on it before hugging herself against the cold. Sometimes she didn't know how Fran managed to wear as little as she did and still stay so poised.

Vaan put his arm around her and rubbed her shoulder. The warmth from his hand was welcome, but it made her blush and when she looked up she couldn't miss Balthier's smirk at her expense. "Cold?"

"I'm fine," she said, moving out from under his arm but being sure to do so with a smile.

"Perhaps you should have considered a jacket?" Balthier was obviously amused at the two of them, though Penelo didn't exactly know why. Fran remained placid throughout the exchange.

Penelo settled for glowering at him over her crossed arms. Recently she'd taken to wearing a collared yellow halter top that was mostly open in the back, but covered her midriff. Below that she wore blue shorts that went to her mid-thigh and were held up by a dark brown belt. Going through the tunnels it'd been the perfect outfit since it had allowed her to move freely and that movement had generated enough body heat so that she could ignore the chilly underground. Now that they were sitting still, the light sweat on her body was a little too cool. She tapped her brown boots against the ground in the hopes that some movement would keep her from getting too cold.

As much as a part of her wanted to lean into Vaan and let him put his arms around her, something about it just didn't seem right. It was something she would have been grateful for two years ago without even a second thought, but now… It was just different. Something she would definitely have to talk to Vaan about later on, when they had more time.

The door to the palace creaked open and the dim light from the palace basements filtered into the room where they were waiting.

"Ah, I see the Queen has finally decided to grace us with her Royal presence," Balthier announced, standing up and dusting himself off.

"Balthier!" Ashe's eyes widened at the sight of him. Penelo had forgotten for a second that Ashe had no way of knowing that he would be there. She didn't know how long it had been since they'd seen each other either.

"Your Highness," Balthier replied, nodding at her.

Penelo couldn't quite figure out the expression on Ashe's face, but she knew she'd seen a similar look on Larsa. It was the well-practiced masking of some feeling that nobles weren't meant to have. It almost made Penelo curious. Truthfully, she'd never imagined Balthier with any woman other than Fran even though she'd never been clear exactly what their relationship was. For a moment she wondered if Ashe had perhaps…

But no. It didn't matter much either way. And the Queen had already collected herself, was surveying the room with some suspicion.

"This plan that you mentioned…"

Balthier crossed his arms and took a step toward Ashe. "What will you do now that Little Lord Larsa has refused to talk to the Senate?" he asked.

This question was part of what they'd all discussed. Before committing to the plan it was important for them to make sure that it was necessary. It was too big a risk if anything else could be done.

Ashe turned her head away. "I don't know," she said. "My advisors have identified a few farms that will help bolster production if rebuilt, a few key areas that need housing—we'll focus our funds there for the time being. We may have to borrow from Archadia or Rozarria, although the price they have set for aid is high…" She shook her head. "I thought you said you had a plan."

This was exactly the answer they had been looking for. Penelo and Balthier shared a look. Balthier tilted his head to the side, questioning her just the slightest. All of this had been her idea, but she was also the most likely to back out and the more experienced pirate knew it well. Penelo focused on Ashe, her mind already made up. "We do," she said. "But it's not exactly… legal."

"It's extremely _il_legal, actually," Balthier continued at Penelo's go-ahead. "And we need your help."

Ashe looked up then, fixing her ice-blue eyes on Balthier as though she were trying to freeze him in place. "What do you mean illegal?"

"The Senate won't do anything to help Dalmasca or Nabradia as long as their trade routes are secure," Penelo explained. "We're going to contract sky pirates to attack any trade ships that pass over our lands—we'll make the Archadians think that the people have become so desperate they're taking matters into their own hands."

"That's insane," Ashe said, shaking her head. "They will know I am involved."

"We're setting up a decoy," Vaan said.

This was something Penelo couldn't believe she had agreed to, but Balthier had convinced her. Without a clear "revolutionary" force, blame might be put on Ashe and it would be harder to argue that the Queen needed more money for a specific purpose. When they had talked about who that decoy might be, Penelo had been horrified that Balthier had suggested her.

"You're not so well known that people would recognize you if we put you in a mask and you'll cut a sympathetic figure. Besides, who better to trust with a such a crucial position?"

When presented with all the arguments, Penelo couldn't exactly say no, insane as it all was.

"Yes," Balthier said, adding to what Vaan had said. "And your knights will be deployed, keeping order in the towns and refugee camps."

Ashe seemed to take in what Balthier had said, but repeated Vaan's word. "Decoy?"

"Ah, yes," Balthier said grandly. "We've invented a revolutionary—a figurehead to lead the pirates in grand charges against Archadian merchants. Someone to divert the blame to."

"And who might this revolutionary be?" Ashe asked, no doubt skeptical. Penelo was reminded again of the multitude of ways this plan could collapse.

Balthier put a pair of reassuring hands on her shoulders just then, and pushed her forward a step. "This one will do," he said, almost as though it wasn't something they'd planned in great detail. "We'll call her the 'Red Lady', has a nice ring to it, wouldn't you agree?"

"This is madness," Ashe said, shaking her head.

The group had expected a similar answer.

"The pirates of Balfonheim did the same two years past," Fran said. "They have since been allowed to elect their own governor and have had more favorable negotiations with the Empire."

"What's to stop them from deploying their army against you?" Ashe asked.

"It's Dalmascan territory," Vaan said. "They can't without you saying they can. Plus the Rozarrians would get mad."

"All we need from you," Balthier said, "Is to keep the knights busy and let us know which areas to direct captured funds to. Ideally a few of your knights would 'retire' and be available in certain towns to help with the dispersal of funds. Then, of course, negotiate your reparations with Archadia."

"We would never let it get back to you," Penelo said. "We'll be disguised the whole time."

Ashe's eyes narrowed. "And if you get caught?"

"Nobody in Archadia even knows we're friends except Larsa," Vaan said.

"You have much faith in Lord Larsa," Ashe said warily.

"Annoyed though I am to say it, we've never had any reason to _doubt_ the little Emperorling," Balthier said, keeping his voice offhanded. "But on a more cynical note, it will be bad enough that Penelo and Vaan are close, personal friends of his. So much the worse if the Senate finds out they've been secretly under the Queen of Dalmasca's employ as well."

Ashe was silent, considering what they had said for a long while. Penelo thought she could almost hear herself breathing in the quiet space.

"It is a dangerous plan," Ashe said finally. "There is much that could go wrong."

Balthier cocked his head and spread his arms. "You seem to have led our young friends to believe that you had no other options."

"I'm nineteen," Penelo protested automatically.

"Ah, of course. A wizened old hag then, aren't you? Which must make Lady Ashe an immortal as there's no other way she could survive to the ripe old age of twenty-one. Fran and I must have already died. I regret to inform you that you are currently speaking to our ghosts."

"Have you finished?" Ashe snapped.

"Never, but for you ladies I will endeavor to _pause_."

"This'll work," Vaan said. "Even if Archadia decides not to give us money, we'll still get some from capturing the ships."

"And Larsa will never approve the deployment of the army," Penelo said. "Not until it's an absolute last resort. We won't let it come to that."

Ashe gave Penelo a look. "Again," she said. "You are putting a great amount of trust in what you believe Lord Larsa will do…"

"It is not just Lord Larsa," Fran put in. "In Archades the people talk of peace. Many finally feel guilt over the destruction of Nabudis."

"Public sentiment is in our favor," Balthier said. "It will give you leverage in your negotiations with Archades."

Ashe looked to the ground, biting the inside of her cheek and clenching a fist near her heart for a moment. Penelo held her breath while the Queen thought. If she was being honest with herself, she didn't know whether she wanted Ashe to agree to the plan or tell them they were all crazy and to get out of her sight. If Ashe said no, then Penelo would have to be all right with that—satisfied that they had done what they could and that was that. But if she said yes…

"All right," Ashe said, after what seemed like an eternity. "The knights will be where you need them. We will have no further contact. You should _all_ disguise yourselves—and not just from the Archadians."

"We'll wear masks at all times," Balthier said. "Or _metal helmets_, wouldn't that be funny?"

#

Rikken and Balthier had apparently had a rather lengthy talk about the proposed endeavor. Rikken had put Balthier in touch with the ships that had carried out attacks on Archadian merchant ships in the previous years. Mostly they were crewed with Dalmascans, Nabradians, and a few Landismen and so could be trusted. Rikken knew the captains well and assured Balthier that they could be trusted. Nonetheless, Raz joined their crew to help keep an eye on the extra captains.

Rikken also managed to set them up with a contact in the Archadian Empire who had a wealth of information on ships scheduled to pass through Nabradia or Dalmasca. There were details on crews, cargoes, dates of departure, and proposed flight routes that would make overtaking the ships simple. Penelo wasn't sure what the contact's actual position was, and Balthier was mostly in charge of dealing with him, but there was no doubting that the intelligence he provided was invaluable.

The overall plan was fairly simple; from the assembled crews there were four ships they would be using initially. Balthier would direct operations with a crew on the _Strahl, _Vaan and Penelo would handle the _Surya_, and Fran would be set up on a ship called the _Leta, _and Raz would be overseeing the _Alphus_. Originally, Penelo was supposed to travel between ships to "oversee" missions, but she hadn't been confident about Vaan going on his own with strangers and so the _Surya_ became the default headquarters and flagship of the "rebellion." To make sure no one recognized Penelo, she would wear a red mask that covered her face with a thin rectangle cut out for her eyes and a red cloak over the whole thing. The rest of the crew would wear similar masks in black, in case any of the Archadians managed to catch a glimpse of them. Vaan, Balthier, and Fran would be as constantly disguised as Penelo was so that only Raz would know who they were.

The two newer ships were fitted with invisibility cores, so that they would be able to sneak up to the merchant ships and get away easily. They would fly in low, under the target ship's blind-spot and stop under its cargo hold while the docking crew would board, release a sleeping gas into the cargo hold, and move the cargo from the target ship to the pirate ship. All four would leave a scarlet feather as a calling card, and a note so that the Archadian merchants would know who had robbed them and why.

The ships would then dock in key cities and refugee camps to offload half of what had been captured. Disguised knights would take the goods and transport them to town leaders who would then use them to fund development projects that Ashe's advisors had deemed the most necessary.

Individual crewmen were kept mostly in the dark about the operations so that they wouldn't be able to give anything away if caught. The queen was never mentioned and the knights were to never come into direct contact with anyone except Penelo, Vaan, Balthier, or Fran. They made sure that any and all roads of inquiry about their actions would lead back to the Red Lady and end there.

#

Four ships were targeted for their first one: the _Luz_, the _Amala_, the _Diane,_ and the _Choris. _All four were supposed to be lightly guarded and carrying gil for trades. The first two were to be picking up spices in Rozarria, the latter two returning to Archadia with gil earned from selling fabrics.

Vaan and Penelo's target would be the _Amala_, which was supposed to be the smallest of them all. They'd both decided that Penelo should do the piloting once the _Surya_ was pulled up under the _Amala_ and that Vaan would be the one to board with the rest of the crew—it would look strange, they thought, if the leader of the resistance did part of the grunt work. So Penelo had had to practice flying. Mostly keeping the _Surya_ level, which was a task more difficult than it first appeared. But by the day they'd scheduled for the attacks, she'd gotten fairly good at it.

It was a day that should have been like any other. Sunny, warm. There was nothing exceptional about the wind or the weather, which Penelo knew should make her job easier. Still her hands shook on the controls just the slightest as she went through the motions in the dock.

"You've got this," Vaan said, trying to reassure her. "I mean I'm obviously the better pilot, but you'll do ok."

"You couldn't navigate your way out of a paper bag," Penelo retorted.

Vaan's face turned smug, "I wouldn't navigate my way _into_ one in the first place."

It was one of those moments where Vaan actually made a _decent_ comeback, and even though the stress of what they were about to do pulled at her nerves, Penelo had to stop and marvel at the rarity of the event.

"What?" Vaan said after she was silent for a while, just staring at him and nothing more. "Is there something on my nose?"

"No," Penelo replied. "It's just sometimes you're actually _funny_."

"Hey—" Vaan started.

Whatever he'd been about to say was cut short by a beeping noise from their console—the signal that they had thirty minutes to pack everything in and take to the sky for their rendezvous with the _Amala_.

A cold knot formed in Penelo's stomach. This was it. They were actually going to do it. After two years of being the good kind of pirate, they were going to cross the line into criminal activity. And the stakes were higher than she'd ever imagined they would be. It wasn't just the theft, after all. If they were caught, their actions _could_ officially be labeled treason and insurrection. But they were fast, Penelo knew, and they were all good at this, they were disguised. More than that, people _needed _this. Roofs over their heads, shoes on their feet, food, medical centers, all of it.

"We don't have to do this," Vaan said, almost echoing what he'd first told her outside the Whitecap. "It's not too late to back out."

Penelo shook her head. "Didn't you always want to be a real pirate?" she asked smiling though he couldn't really see it behind her mask. She pulled the hood up on her cloak and adjusted the red gloves she'd donned for the occasion. "Come on," she said.

"It's time."

* * *

><p>CHAPTER FIVE PREVIEW:<p>

_Necessity, piracy, guilt  
><em>

* * *

><p>NOTES: I accidentally posted a terribly horribly badly unedited bad, bad version of this chapter earlier. But it was terrible and horrible and bad, so I fixed it. I'm also kind of going back and revising the stuff I wrote before. Sooo there's quite a bit that's different. Still going back and kind of fixing things as I go along, but I don't want to get stuck in rewrites and forget to move the story along. A loooot of stuff was changed in the first couple chapters though, so that might be worth a quick skim. Thanks for putting up with me so far! Next chapter should have some swashbuckling good fun and some excerpts from letters between Larsa and Penelo.<p>

THANK YOU: Yuna Black for keeping up with the story! And Yuriski, you're psychic. JK, maybe I was just predictable.


	5. five: necessity, piracy, guilt

ON YOUR WINGS

_chapter five: necessity, piracy, guilt  
><em>

* * *

><p><em>Inhale.<em>

_Exhale._

_Inhale._

_Exhale._

She could feel her hands sweating inside her gloves, but she kept the ship steady, adjusting the steering console to cope with the wind and the shifting of the airship above her. Too close to it and the links connecting them would rattle, alerting the other pilot. Too far and they might snap, stranding her crew. Her breathing felt heavy against her face mask and each second seemed to stretch on interminably. She had to focus. Concentrate. On the air around her, the ground below her, the sky in front of her.

_Just keep breathing…_

It was maddening not to know what was going on behind her. She could only assume everything was going as planned, because she couldn't hear any shouting. If she listened hard enough she could hear faint talking behind her and clanking as safes were lifted from the _Amala_ and placed in the _Surya_. But she couldn't do that for too long. Listening was distracting and the whole of her attention had to be on the way the _Surya_ felt around her, the way the steering console felt under her hands, keeping the ship above her at a constant distance.

When Vaan finally tapped her on the shoulder, her nerves were so coiled she nearly shot right out of her seat, but she managed to catch herself, holding the ship steady.

"Hey," Vaan said, "It's done, let's switch."

Penelo had never been more grateful to hear anything in her life. She slid out of the pilot's seat and into hers so Vaan could take over the controls.

"You did really good," he said, "The whole thing went smoothly."

"Thank the gods," she replied, activating the _Surya's_ invisibility core. "Let's get out of here."

Since they could only stay invisible for so long, Vaan dropped the ship down, kicked it into high-speed, and took off in the direction opposite to the one the _Amala _was flying in. Their rendezvous point was in the Crossfields of the Cerobi Steppe Penelo checked the windspeed and the powerflow to the glossair engines, adjusting for Vaan's increase in speed. Air currents were notoriously unstable on the Steppe, so most of her attention would now be focused on keeping the _Surya_ flying steady through it all. But that was something she'd done a hundred times before at least. It was normal, though not exactly easy, and she fell into the comfortable habit of watching the meters on the ship run.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Vaan's grin spreading wide across his face. He was taking the _Surya_ faster than he normally did and she had to work extra to compensate for his borderline recklessness.

"You don't have to go so fast anymore," she said. "The _Amala's _well out of sight range."

"It was great," he said, almost as though he hadn't heard what she'd said at all. "You should have seen it—those guards were knocked out cold. We cleaned out the whole cargo hold."

And Penelo wanted to be excited with him, she really did. But she couldn't catch hold of that exhilaration he seemed to be riding.

Couldn't feel anything but anxious and worried and guilty.

#

Raz, Fran, and their crews were already there when Penelo and Vaan landed, the glossair rings stirring the grass as they settled down. The _Strahl_ had yet to appear, but Balthier had also had the latest time of departure so it wasn't surprising. The crew disembarked before Penelo and Vaan did and Raz greeted them all as they stepped out. Penelo felt a little guilty that she hadn't memorized everyone's name yet, but Vaan had most of them down.

"Did everything go well for you?" Fran asked Penelo as she exited the ship.

Penelo nodded. "Yes," she said, "I think so. The safes are in the cargo space."

"All right," Raz said, clipboard in hand. He hopped onto the ship to inspect their winnings followed by a locksmith that Penelo vaguely remembered was named Gert.

"The look on those Archadians' faces when they open that cargo hold and all they find are feathers," one member of Penelo's crew was saying. "Gods I'd almost pay back all the money just to see it."

"Well, that would be kind of pointless wouldn't it?" Vaan asked.

"I said _almost_," the crewmember shot back.

The mood at the rendezvous point was as exuberant as Vaan's had been back in the _Surya_. People were smiling and clapping each other on the back. The crews of the _Leta _and the _Alphus_ were figuring out what their individual take was and everyone seemed happy at the estimated number.

Penelo felt out of sync with the world around her. As though she were a skystone drifting over Jagd. She almost wanted to run into her cabin, get a pen and paper, and sit down to write a long letter to Larsa about the whole thing. But that was out of the question. And she knew what he would say anyway.

_I wish you would take up a less dangerous occupation._

It was something he wrote her a lot. Advice she appreciated, but had ultimately always ignored. What would he think if he saw her now?

Vaan pointed the _Strahl _out on the horizon. "Look," he said, "Balthier's back."

The airship, fast as it was, had soon landed easily and Raz was already on the way to check on its cargo.

Fran went to go see how the flight had went and Penelo found herself following the viera. Fran was the only one who didn't seem overjoyed at the success of their venture. She had the same measured posture she always did and seemed almost above all the backslapping congratulation.

Balthier exited the _Strahl _quickly and told Raz where he could find the cargo to tally.

"All went well?" Fran asked, nodding at her partner.

"Ah, yes," Balthier replied, "Spot of bad air over Old Elanise Road, but nothing we couldn't handle. Aria's a fine enough navigator."

Balthier gestured to a girl that was an inch or two taller than Penelo and standing next to him. She had short, red-brown hair done up in a messy, high ponytail so that the ends of it fanned outward stylishly, tendrils of hair framed a face that looked more than a little nervous.

"We don't usually go over Cerobi," she explained. "It'll go more smoothly next time."

"Of course," Balthier was saying. But Penelo caught the look he shot Fran above the girl's head.

Many an airship went down over the Steppe. Nearly the whole of it was "bad air" and Penelo wondered whether the _Strahl_ had come to a safe landing through competent navigation or expert piloting. Penelo could sympathize with the girl though. She remembered the first time she and Vaan had gone over the Steppe—he'd almost crashed them into a hill and she'd very nearly had a heart attack trying to stabilize everything. It was a miracle they'd survived to do it again, she'd thought. Their only saving grace had been that they'd learned to fly under difficult circumstances in the first place, and that nothing she imagined could be as hard as trying to fly the _Strahl_ around the listing _Bahamut_ in the middle of a battle.

"I see that our flagship has made it back safely," Balthier said, bowing in Penelo's direction. "When will we be setting out to drop off our cargo?"

"Half an hour," Penelo said, not wanting to waste too much time.

"Excellent," Balthier said. "Now has anyone seen Captain Stakke? I would like to have a quick word with him…"

Stakke was with Raz, divvying up the take among the crew members. Balthier diverted him away to have a private conversation aboard the _Strahl_ while Penelo and Vaan helped Raz direct the crew. Payouts were given and crewmembers who had been paid were moved to the _Leta_ and the _Alphus _except for a few groups who opted to walk since they weren't far from the Port and would be able to make the trek by nightfall. The rest of the cargo—what was supposed to be transported to the towns—was moved to the _Surya _and the _Strahl._ The _Leta_ and the _Alphus_ would make for Balfonheim, one leaving just slightly after the other. The _Strahl _and the _Surya_ would go around to small towns that Ashe had marked on a map for them, leave money there, then meet back in Bhujerba.

#

When Penelo and Vaan were finally on the _Surya_ alone, Penelo wasted no time in taking off her coat, mask and gloves. She wiped her hands off on her shorts and slid into the navigator's chair. She wanted that money out of her ship as quickly as possible. She wanted to be in the Cloudborne having a drink and she wanted it soon.

Vaan followed a little slower, pulling off his mask and gloves too. "Hey," he said. Instead of going to his seat, he stood behind hers, putting his hands on her bare shoulders.

She could tell there was something different about him. He had some energy, some excitement left over from their trip. He spun her chair around and he kissed her and for once it felt… _wrong_.

She pushed him away gently and just said, "Vaan."

He pulled back, eyebrows scrunched in confusion.

She could almost see why. Ever since she'd announced her plan they'd been closer than they were for the past year. And he was happy. She could see that he was happy and that he just wanted her to be happy with him.

"Penelo," he said, sitting back in his seat and looking concerned. "What's wrong?"

There was something about his posture that told her he had never expected to not be able to kiss her. She'd almost never expected it either, but… He was only happy because he was having fun with what they were doing. And even though it had been her plan the whole time, it wasn't something she particularly enjoyed. There was a disconnect there—a discrepancy she had never quite expected and that she couldn't quite account for.

"I don't know," she said, with a light shake of her head. "I just… I don't know."

Vaan frowned and turned to face the steering console. "All right," he said, "Whatever. Let's go."

And even though she didn't like his tone, she was happy to hear him start the engines.

#

It was late into the night when they finally got to the Cloudborne in Bhujerba. They hadn't exchanged a word since leaving the Cerobi Steppe except to help each other offload gil. Dropping the gil off had made Penelo feel a lot better about everything. It reminded her _why_ they were doing what they were doing and while she still wasn't overjoyed at the prospect of having become a real thief, she knew now that it was something she could live with.

There was one thing that was still bothering her though.

"Vaan," she said, pulling the back of his vest to stop him outside the bar.

"What?" he asked, turning around. She could see that he looked as tired as she felt. And something else too… he was annoyed. She hadn't seen that look of his directed at her in years.

"I'm sorry," she said, not quite knowing what she was apologizing for, but feeling that somehow she should anyway. "About earlier."

He ran a hand through his hair and seemed to be trying not to look at her directly. "I don't know, Pen," he said. He took a deep breath before turning his gaze right on her. "I mean, what happened to us?"

The question beat around her skull until it made her want to scream. _What happened to us? _She thought, _What happened to us! _As though he had the right to ask that. Like he wasn't the one who— "_You_ were the one who said you wanted to go back to the way we were before," she accused. "You're the one that's always hanging around other girls. You're the one that's—"

"Stop, I get it. Ok?" He held up a hand to interrupt her. "Look, I didn't mean… I mean I just wasn't _ready_."

"What does that even mean?" Penelo asked.

His mouth flopped open like a beached fish's as he searched for an answer. She decided that that wasn't good enough just then. That she wasn't willing to wait.

"Tell me when you find out," she said, putting her hand on the entrance to the bar. "But don't… don't _toy_ with me."

Penelo didn't know what her face looked like when she said that. She didn't want to know. There was a sharp pain in her lungs that was making it hard to breathe and all she wanted to do was sit down and order a whisky and if she had to sit across a table from Vaan to do that, that was fine. She just couldn't look at him right _now_.

So before a reaction could even register on his face, she pushed into the Cloudborne, not caring whether he was following her or not, spotted Fran and Balthier at their usual table, and made a beeline for it. Vaan wasn't trying to say anything to her, wasn't trying to pull her back, but she could feel him walking close behind her. She was too exhausted to be angry or annoyed or hurt anymore.

When they sat down for drinks, they sat apart, and Vaan didn't try to play with her hair at all.

#

A month later and her relationship with Vaan still hadn't quite recovered. She'd gone back to reading books in her cabin while he went out to the bars and if there were nights he didn't come back to the ship, she didn't comment on them. The Scarlet Feathers' ranks had swelled, but so had the safeguards around the Archadian merchant ships. They flew in groups now, their cargo holds bearing special seals. Penelo had redesigned flight patterns while Balthier and Fran had worked on different linking methods, other ways to crack into the cargo holds. Vaan, Raz, and some of the others had developed ways to blind the other ships in a group, or have them split off so that they were easier to deal with one by one.

Their contact reported that the mood among the Archadian merchant class was somber. They were losing money. So much so that land travel was becoming more popular, that nobles were complaining to the Senate. The rumor of the Scarlet Feathers and their Red Lady had spread around the pirate and trade ships. It was almost embarrassing to Penelo, the way some of the crew had followed Balthier's example and started bowing to her lightly.

There were a few times she said words, about the good they were doing for the people of Dalmasca and Nabradia. About how important their mission was. About how scared the Archadians must be. Most of it was stuff Balthier came up with. Precious little was her own

Without Vaan to talk to, she missed Larsa desperately. She wondered whether he missed her as well. She fished in one of her boxes for a letter he'd given her and skimmed it idly:

_I suppose the Imperial soldiers do not startle me as much as they do you and Vaan, they have been so common in my life. When I was very young I even believed for a time that they were a special species of metal men and women. I would wonder what they ate and I had always believed it was wood or paper or some other material. When I finally saw a Judge remove her helmet for the first time, I was quite startled. My father and brother were understandably perplexed. Vayne only figured out what had happened a little later and endeavored to explain it to me. _

_At the very least I did realize that the other half of my caretakers were real people. To be quite honest, I always felt safest around the Judges. They were certainly kinder to me than my tutors were, in spite of their imposing appearances. I suppose that must sound strange to you, but it is the way that I grew up._

She remembered that letter. She remembered it because it had made her so sad to read it. That Larsa had been so surrounded by soldiers, that nobody had bothered to explain armor to him, that Vayne was the only family he really saw. She recalled that letter too, almost without even having to read it.

_My father was constantly busy. My mother perished in childbirth. I was told that I'd had two older brothers, but I did not meet them either as they were apparently killed the very year that I was born. Vayne was always very attentive, going over my studies with me, practicing swords, buying me treats. When I was a little older and began to wander on my own, certainly I heard things, but I believed them to be nothing more than vicious gossip._

_I did not realize the whole of what he was until Chairman Gregoroth himself implied it to me, leaving me with a few documents, a few half-told truths. Even then, when I set out on my journey to uncover his actions I believed that I would be uncovering Gregoroth's slander. _

_I had been so shielded from the world that my first real encounters with it were quite shocking indeed. _

Penelo frowned at the sheets of paper. Tucked them back into their box carefully. She closed her eyes and tried to remember the Larsa she'd met just months ago with the steely eyes and the uncompromising voice and wondered which one was real. The imperious young man she'd encountered in Archades or the lonely little boy that lived in her letters?

#

When Larsa first heard reports of the pirate brigade attacking Archadian merchant ships over Dalmasca he'd been alarmed to say the least. They had materialized as though they were the gods' way of saying that the pirates of Balfonheim had not nearly been enough trouble for the young emperor. That Dalmascan rebels obviously offered a greater challenge.

When details filtered through to him, about the manner of their attack, about what they left behind, he began to worry. Scarlet _feathers_.

When it was first mentioned at a Senate meeting he'd inadvertently said what was on his mind. "They leave _what_?" But it had been an innocuous question and sounded merely like he required simple clarification.

"_Feathers_," the merchants' representative had said. "Red feathers, Your Excellency."

He didn't know what made him think of _her_ first. Or rather he did, in a way. She constantly danced around the edges of his thoughts. He always imagined what he would have written her on this or that subject, what she might have written back. He pictured her on the day he met her, on the day of his fourteenth birthday party, his fifteenth, the last time he saw her. Her outfits varied with each image, but two constants remained: the duet of braids she always wore in varying lengths and thicknesses, and the feathers that were always woven into them somehow.

The way she moved, the way she _was_, so light and fluid and cheerful—whenever he was around her he'd always half expected her to grow wings and fly away. A silly fantasy inspired by those feathers.

They said the Red Lady was a woman of uncertain age and that her pirates left feathers as calling cards. No one knew what she looked like—at least no one that could report to him. But she'd appeared just three and a half months after he'd last spoken to Penelo. It was madness to think that she might have something to do with all of it. It just didn't seem _like_ her, although abruptly severing their correspondence had not either.

He could not help but _suspect_.

At first he and others in the Senate hoped that the concentration of attacks was exaggerated. That they were a few isolated incidents from a new gang trying to stake out its territory. As a few weeks passed and it became clear that the pirates were organized and incessant, there was a clamor for something to be done about them. The group seemed to be growing in number. Merchants were trying to add safeguards to their cargo, but the pirates rose to every new obstacle. There were rumors that they weren't even human. That they were something like ghosts. Ridiculous, of course. But something that had to be dealt with nonetheless.

He wrote a letter to Ashe, asking for an audience in Rabanastre. Larsa knew that the Senate would have preferred to grill her, but Larsa thought the length of their acquaintance had earned her a private visit. Besides there was something that he wanted to ask her in person.

The Senators tried to convince him that a messenger would do, but he would not be deterred. Given the danger of Dalmascan airspace, Larsa and Basch made their trip to Rabanastre on the _Ramuh, _a light cruiser that was part of the Archadian first fleet. Messages were sent to both Queen Ashe and Emperor Cardenio of Rozarria so that they would know the _Ramuh's_ trip was a diplomatic rather than a military venture.

Queen Ashelia met his party at the aerodrome with her cortege.

"I've prepared carriages," she said, "For you and your party…"

Her voice trailed off at that and Larsa knew immediately what the problem was. Most of the Imperial knights assigned to the _Ramuh_ stood behind him, a rank and file of Archadian soldiers that the new Queen surely did not want parading down her streets. "Judge Magister Gabranth and my personal guards will accompany me," he assured her. "The others will stay with the _Ramuh_."

He nodded at Basch, who issued the orders and they set off.

There were four guardsmen in his carriage besides Basch, so he could not ask the Judge Magister how he felt about being in Rabanastre and seeing the Lady Ashe again. She'd nodded a hello in his direction to acknowledge his presence, but decorum and the fact that there was not much reason for her to be well acquainted with Gabranth prevented her from doing anything else. Larsa leaned forward to look out the window. He wasn't familiar with Rabanastre, having only been there once for Ashe's coronation, so the streets and buildings were unfamiliar to him.

One of them, he knew, must certainly be Migelo's Sundries. He wondered if one of the bangaa he caught a glimpse of as the carriage rolled down the street was Migelo himself. Or if any of the younger people he saw running about were Kytes or Filo.

"Your Excellency," Basch said, "It may be wise of you to sit a bit further back."

Larsa deferred to Basch on all matters of personal security, and so he took the older man's advice and sat back in his seat. The heat was starting to get to him and he almost wished that he had one of those little vests that Vaan was always wearing. He felt immensely sorry for his guards and wondered at how they managed to sit in their armor without suffering a heat stroke. Sweat beaded at the back of his neck and he thought, for a moment, how unseemly it must be for the emperor to _sweat_.

They arrived at the palace not a moment too soon and a maid was kind enough to hand him a cool towel the second he stepped in the door. He used it to dab at his forehead and the back of his neck with no small amount of relief.

"We'll meet in my study," Ashe said, nodding to a few servants who hurried off. Larsa presumed to make the room ready. "And then dinner afterward. Of course the Judge Magister is invited, if he wishes to come."

Basch shook his head. "I fear I must decline, Milady, such a thing is certainly above me."

"Nonsense, Gabranth," Larsa said. "You must be in attendance as my guard in any case, must you not?"

Larsa couldn't see Basch's expression through the helmet, but he imagined it didn't look much different than usual. Perhaps a short look of surprise and then acceptance. The Judge nodded. "Of course, Your Excellency."

"Wonderful," Ashe said, "Shall we?"

There were three sets at the coffee table when Larsa and Ashe entered, two apparently for coffee and one for tea. Larsa appreciated the thoughtfulness, both at the tea offered and the fact that Ashe had thought to prepare a setting for Basch as well, as one of the maids offered him a seat on a pale red settee. The maid poured his tea while another poured Ashe's coffee. He had had most of his guards wait outside the door while only he and Basch entered the study. Ashe quickly dismissed the servants that had helped them get settled and after a small flurry of activity, the three of them were left alone together.

Basch removed his helmet and both Ashe and Larsa motioned for him to set it down and have a seat. He did so, laying his helmet on the coffee table and taking an armchair near to Larsa.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" Ashe asked as soon as everyone was settled.

"I am afraid you must already know," Larsa said, picking up his teacup.

Ashe pursed her lips and sat up a little straighter. Larsa took in the slight changes in her posture while pretending not to notice them. "The Scarlet Feathers," she said. "A regrettable nuisance."

"They appear only to target Archadian ships," Larsa pointed out. "It also appears that the Dalmascan military is doing little to stop them. There are some in the Senate who believe that the attacks are being _permitted_—"

Ashe bristled. "Of course not," she said. "As I have written to you, _many_ times, the situation in our townships is much different than that in the capital. There is constant talk of unrest and the knights have been deployed to keep order and to distribute food and supplies to the more disconnected areas."

"I see," Larsa said, setting his cup back on its saucer delicately. It was what he'd expected to hear, but it was not the answer he wanted. "Lady Ashe," he began, shifting his tone. "The Scarlet Feathers…"

"Yes?"

"Just before they appeared, Vaan and Penelo spent a good deal of time in Balfonheim and my reports tell me that the _Surya_ has been seen in Rabanastre very little since the attacks began," Larsa lead.

"They are young, Lord Larsa," Ashe said. "And not so mature as you. They have always been adventurous, have they not?"

"They have," Larsa said, "However they have traditionally made many stopovers in major cities, though now it seems that they are dropping into the countryside with greater frequency."

"I do not know what you are trying to imply," Ashe said.

Yet everything from the way she'd tensed when he mentioned Vaan and Penelo, the way her eyes narrowed, and the way her grip had tightened on her coffee cup told him otherwise. His suspicion hardened into worry. But Larsa had had the experience of keeping himself composed in front of twelve old men whose dearest wish was likely to have his head on a platter and his empire carved up between them, where Ashe had only herself and loyal advisors. His face and tone remained, what Penelo would have called, disturbingly neutral.

"You must be more convincing for the Senate," he said, after a moment. "The Emperor and the Judges still own most of the power in Archadia, yet it is not ours to use so freely. Things are more complicated since my brother's betrayal, you _know_ this."

"Lord Larsa," Ashe began.

He held up a hand to silence her as respectfully as he could. He knew she was only going to lie to him and he wished neither to waste time nor damage their friendship any further. "I will do my best to keep the military out of it. It should not be so difficult as most of the Senators are loath to give the Rozarrian Conquisors any reason to stir. The way that I perceive the situation, there are a few courses we can pursue. If you have other solutions I will be glad to hear them in a moment."

"First, the Senators will no doubt be willing to grant some help in shoring up Dalmasca's military. A cadre of Judges may perhaps be dispatched here to train your knights in aerial combat in order help them better deal with the pirate threat. However, you say that it is not only that your military lacks training and resources, but that they lack manpower as well. You have pointed out that your country has some issues with basic infrastructure, excuse me, _have_ been pointing out that your country has issues with basic infrastructure for quite some time now. Have you not?"

"I have," Ashe nodded.

"Of course I have your plans on file in Archades," Larsa continued. "We may be able to convince the Senators that helping Dalmasca in these areas might be in their best interest as it will ensure that our neighbors are civilized at the very least."

He could see Ashe's face lighten just a little at what he said, but that brightness only made his stomach drop further. It was apparent that she didn't trust herself to say anything in response to his proposal. So he went on without delay. "The _problem_," he said, emphasizing that there was one and that it was massive. "Is that the Scarlet Feathers will have to be dealt with _convincingly_. There can be no doubt that the knights are doing everything they can to fight the Scarlet Feathers. And were the pirates to disappear as soon as Dalmasca started receiving money it would appear quite suspicious."

Ashe tensed again, but her posture was resolute as she said, "Such pirates are friends to no one. If Archadia aids us as you have so proposed I will do all I can to gain full control of my kingdom."

"Even _these_ pirates?" Larsa queried, raising an eyebrow. "I dearly hope that I am wrong. But I do not believe that I am. The Senate thinks that you are spirited, though simple, and they believe that because of our travels together you will be easy to manipulate or dismiss. They vastly prefer you to any other potential ruler of Dalmasca and so have an interest in your continued reign; however," he said, "if they were to suspect that you had somehow been involved in a conspiracy to fool them..."

"So you have come as a friendly reminder that the Archadian Senate hangs over my head like a guillotine's blade?"

"I have come as a _friend_," Larsa said, "Warning another friend to be cautious. For herself, her kingdom, and for the sake of our other acquaintances."

"Your suspicion quite surprises me, Lord Larsa," Ashe said. "Does Penelo not write you often?"

"Not for a while," Larsa replied quietly. "We had a rather irreconcilable difference of opinion over reparations to Dalmasca some time ago and I have not heard from her since." He looked down at his teacup for a moment, before closing his eyes just briefly. "I believe she wished to avoid lying to me."

Ashe was quiet and it seemed as though she was trying to work out what to say next, but Larsa saved her the trouble. "That was better," he said. "But you'll need practice. Try not to look so tense. I know you are not a stupid woman, but the stupider you appear the better it will help you when you have your audience with the Senate. If you are worried, if you feel they suspect you, you may consider looking confused or simply stubborn."

"They like pawns," Ashe said. "How do they deal with you?"

"Carefully. Unhappily." Larsa said. "The men of my family have a reputation for ruthlessness."

"Indeed," Ashe said. And there was a wariness in her voice that he thought was necessary as much as he wished it wasn't.

"You must want to catch up," Larsa said, switching to a more friendly posture as he looked from Ashe to Basch. "If you have a pen and paper, there are some letters I must write, if you would like time to talk."

"The desk," Ashe said, looking pointedly at the opposite end of the room.

"Thank you," Larsa said, nodding and standing.

The last thing that the Emperor heard from them as he crossed the room was Ashe whispering to Basch, "He has grown so, hasn't he?"

And Basch's calm reply: "He has had to, Milady."

* * *

><p>CHAPTER SIX PREVIEW:<p>

_An effect of absence on the heart  
><em>

* * *

><p>NOTES: I hope I didn't lose everybody with the politics stuff =(. Any criticism or the characters or the way it's all proceeding would be welcome and probaly help me improve the story ! Next chapter is going to be more Larsa-focused.<p> 


	6. six: an effect of absence on the heart

ON YOUR WINGS

_chapter six: an effect of absence on the heart_

* * *

><p>I was not prepared for this.<p>

_It was a thought that only grasped him infrequently. One that burned in the back of his mind, but that he rarely deigned to acknowledge. It was so seductive a meditation, such a convenient and tantalizing excuse for any missteps, any poor decisions. It would be such an apt justification for surrender, for blindly signing any edict the Senators tried to push on him. _

_After all, he had_ not_ been prepared. The whole of his life, it had been in the interests of others to keep him ignorant of many things. Politics, trade relations, the economy. He had learned what he could from his studies on history, had asked questions as frequently as he was able, but the fact remained that they were things he had not been reared to consider._

_Neither his father nor his brother had wanted a challenger. The Senate had specifically longed for a puppet. He was brought up to be polite, noble, brimming with an optimism unscathed by the backstabbing, bribery, and scheming that so often marked deals within the Archadian government._

_He had been meant then, to be like a doll. Without the current knowledge to be able to ask effective questions. Without the weapons to defend himself from the more jaded politicians that surrounded him. A threat to no one and so easily beloved by all. Shielded, sheltered, caged._

_Chairman Gregoroth, thinking to move Larsa like a piece on a large board, had unlocked the door to that cage. Surely even he could not have foreseen what would come of doing so. Let into the world on his own with such hints as Gregoroth had given him, the boy had been able to uncover much important information. To form his own opinion on the events around him as he gathered evidence and made observations._

_He had made many moves then, no longer a pawn but a player in his own right, attempting to steer the game toward a peaceable conclusion. A spark had been lit in the mind of Gramis's fourth son. At first horrified to learn of Vayne's bloody history yet unwilling to believe that his brother could not be saved, he had meant entirely to oppose both the Senate and his brother, to help his father strengthen his control of the Empire, to put to rights what Draklor's machinations had sundered._

_Yet his faith in his brother was sorely misplaced._

"You had best find the strength you need to correct me, then."

_The challenge had been carved into his memory. He had not quite known it then, not been entirely aware, but it had been the advice that was most useful to Larsa in his role as emperor. They were words he now lived by, for what were beliefs without the determination to see them through? _

_Those words had begun his true education. And whatever else Vayne had done, whatever else he'd said, whatever else he had become, Larsa was grateful for that. Grateful that whatever madness had been in him, whatever his usual desire to entirely snuff his opposition, Vayne Solidor had somehow seen fit to instead add kindling to the spark of his younger brother's resistance._

* * *

><p>In Archades, the merchants were getting restless. It was normally easy to keep the residents of Nilbasse, Trant, Molberry, Rienna, and Tsenoble happy, but the situation in Dalmasca was inspiring them to be increasingly vocal. Queen Ashelia was due for a visit in less than a week's time. She would meet with the Senate, explain the situation in her kingdom, and ask for aid that Larsa hoped against hope they would see the wisdom in granting. It wasn't like Balfonheim where capitulation meant helping pirates. Sovereigns could surely help other sovereigns; the Senate would see the wisdom in keeping Lady Ashe grateful and Dalmasca under the firm control of a ruler they believed they could deal with.<p>

It would be easy for them to support the Queen if she could promise the Red Lady's head on a silver platter. Not for the first time, Larsa felt a tremor at the thought. Ashe had not exactly confirmed that Vaan and Penelo were involved. Even if they were, there was no reason to assume either of them would be in a leadership position. Still, his feelings on these matters were rarely incorrect. A suspicion well learned after his brother's betrayal. He hoped for the best; however… would Lady Ashe allow her friends to gamble with their lives so? If they had really wanted to, would she have been able to stop them?

Bellamy entered his study, giving him something else to turn his attention to. "The opera this evening, Lord Larsa," he began. "You are expected to attend and several young ladies have been waiting with baited breath for your decision about which will have the honor of accompanying you."

The opera. He had forgotten entirely. "My apologies," he said. "Which of the ladies was I meant to be considering?"

"Lady Inara, Senator Travik's daughter expressed an interest," Bellamy replied. "As did Lady Bryar, Senator Aramanth's niece and Lady Margarethe, the granddaughter of the late Chairman Gregoroth. There were a few others, of course, but I believe one of these three would be most prudent."

Larsa didn't want to risk anything with either of the senator's daughters. He had spoken to Lady Margarethe a few times, though briefly. Once, when he apologized to her for her father's apparent death at the hands of his brother. She had not seemed angry or resentful toward him and had surprised him by expressing every wish that _he_ might recover from the situation. It was an easy decision then.

"Have a note sent to Lady Margarethe, please," he said.

"At once," Bellamy nodded, going to do as he'd been ordered and leaving Larsa to his thoughts and his letters.

#

When Larsa's car pulled up to Lady Margarethe's home, Basch stepped out first and held the door for him. The house butler was already standing outside the door to receive them and Larsa wondered almost guiltily whether the man had been there long.

"Your Excellency," he said with a bow so low it was almost obsequious. "The Lady Margarethe and her mother Lady Cataline wish to invite you inside for tea before the festivities."

Larsa was a bit hesitant at the offer. It would feel a bit odd, he thought, to be served tea in the house of a man his brother had killed. Besides that, he had wanted to get the night over with as quickly as possible. Still, he had no way to decline the invitation without being impolite. "Thank you," he said, having nothing else to say. He followed the butler into the house with some resignation.

He and Basch were led to a rather pleasant, but smallish drawing room where tea was already set for Larsa, Lady Cataline, and Lady Margarethe. The two women stood as Larsa entered the room, and for a moment he found himself a bit surprised.

The Margarethe in his memory was a young girl, short and timid, but stronger than she looked, with wide eyes and straight black hair. This Margarethe did not look so girlish. She had filled out, grown taller. Her long hair was done up fashionably in a series of complicated braids with deep green ribbons threaded through them. The dress she wore was fashionable as well, the same green as the ribbons in her hair, with scalloped short sleeves and a low, straight neck for the summer. Her lips were painted with a pale pink that well complemented her pale skin and chocolate eyes, wide still, but no longer timid—that trait seemed to have been replaced by a quiet confidence.

Larsa remembered himself in a moment. It was not as though he had never seen a pretty girl before, and when he thought about it Margarethe was his age. Had been his age when he had met her and therefore had not been so young by comparison. Perhaps she had just seemed that way because he was always around people who were older. Although he had to admit something about her seemed young to him still, just not _childish_.

"Lord Larsa," Lady Cataline was saying. "It is such an honor to have you in our home."

"The honor is all mine," Larsa replied automatically, kissing first the mother's hand, then the daughters in greeting.

"We were so delighted when we received word you would be taking Margarethe to the opera with you," Lady Cataline went on. "She does so love the opera. She spent all day just preparing for it."

Margarethe blushed at this. "Not _all_ day, Mother," she protested lightly.

"I am sure very little work was required, Lady Cataline," Larsa said. "Your daughter is as lovely as her mother."

Both women flushed at that.

#

Larsa didn't like to force Basch to stand while he sat and chatted, so after a few more pleasantries he apologized and said that they really must be going if they didn't want to hold up the program. Lady Cataline didn't protest too much and within minutes, Larsa took Margarethe's arm in his and escorted her to the car.

"Have you heard much about the opera debuting tonight?" Margarthe asked, once they'd settled in.

"I must confess that I have not," Larsa replied. In truth it was merely another errand to attend to. Some minor diversion keeping him from more important work.

"I have heard that it is about pirates," Margarethe said, eyes gleaming. "Won't that be riveting?"

She looked so excited that Larsa lacked the heart to tell her that pirates were, quite literally, the last thing that he wanted to hear about. At her encouraging expression he found that he could do little but agree.

#

As Larsa sat watching the opera, the only thing he could think was _pirates, indeed_. It was worse than he could have imagined—not in quality, but in subject.

The main drama seemed to focus on a love triangle between a lady pirate, her partner in crime, and their dashing mentor. The lady pirate was garbed rather noticeably in red—an observation that tightened Larsa's grip on his program. The story was supposedly historic. The pirates were meant to be from Landis and had been conscripted in a war against Nabradia. Their goal was to disrupt Nabradian trade and supply lines.

It all sounded much too familiar for Larsa's taste. Though he could see how one could easily interpret it as a tragic tale of how barbaric the conquered kingdoms were, Larsa saw a little too much of the present reflected in the presentation. He made up his mind to see the composer after the whole thing was over and was deciding whether he should go backstage straight after or wait to meet him in the salon during the after party. The pirates performed daring and heroic feats while the merchants and soldiers wallowed in greed and cruelty—the emperor knew he would not be the only one in the audience to pick up on such subtleties of characterization.

The play closed with the death of the lady pirate and her partner as their ship went down over a Sandsea. The orchestra soared and Larsa could see that Margarethe had tears in her eyes over the tragic conclusion. As the last chord sounded in the opera house and the curtain dropped, the whole of the audience rose with thunderous applause. The work was an obvious success and Larsa could not help but worry over the implication.

"That was beautiful," Margarethe was saying as she clapped loudly next to him.

Larsa smiled at her, unable to join her enthusiasm, but not wanting to spoil her mood all the same. He decided then that going backstage straight away would be too obvious. The singers were all coming out for their final bows. Larsa waited patiently until the curtain dropped for the last time, before touching Margarethe's arm briefly. "We should go to the salon," he said. "Before there is a crowd."

"How can a crowd matter?" Margarethe asked. "You are the Emperor, are you not?"

She was right.

As they made their way down from his box, following behind Basch people parted to make way for them. In the salon there was already a table set especially for him with a waiter ready to serve them drinks.

Larsa didn't mind sitting at the table. Everyone would come to see him eventually and it saved him from having to navigate the crowded room.

To his great displeasure, Senator Travik was the first person to greet him. "Lord Larsa," he said, "An interesting performance, was it not?"

"A bit too fanciful for my liking, I must admit," Larsa said coolly. "Though it did have its charm."

"Charming pirates," Travik said, staring at Larsa in a way that made the younger man all too aware of his displeasure. "Who would have thought?"

"I thought it was lovely," Margarethe chimed in. "When the girl was kidnapped and the two men had to team up to rescue her in spite of their differences—and that song about how her heart was splitting in two at the thought of having to choose between them, why _my_ heart nearly split. And the ending! When she'd finally chosen at last only to have her life ripped away from her so, why it nearly brings me to tears just remembering it."

"Of course," Senator Travik said. "Young women do enjoy their fancies, do they not, Lord Larsa?"

"It was a rather touching melodrama," Larsa replied, trying to be as politic as possible.

"Yes, well, I will not detain you any longer, Lord Larsa," Travik said, before bowing and walking away.

"Did you think it was silly?" Margarethe asked him as soon as Senator Travik had left.

"I think it perhaps glorified the actions of pirates a bit much," Larsa replied. "They are a rather malicious nuisance in this day and age."

"Of course," Margarethe said, "It was only a fantasy. I do quite envy the freedom they seem to have, though. Although I suppose really it is just a different set of chains."

"That's a very keen insight," Larsa said, vaguely impressed as he took a sip of his wine. "Not so many would make it."

"Affairs of the heart trap us all," Margarethe replied, disappointing him just a bit. "Don't you think?"

"I suppose," Larsa said with a short smile.

A few others stopped by their table and Larsa made short and polite conversation with each, until finally the composer himself showed up and appeared at the Emperor's table. Larsa had learned from others that the man's name was Rykar Azenoth, he was twenty-three years old, his family was from Nilbasse, and he had been a member of the Archadian Imperial forces.

"Did you enjoy the performance?" he asked, in what Larsa imagined was an almost mischievous tone.

"It was brilliant," Margarethe gushed.

"I have to ask," Larsa said, "Where did you get your inspiration for the work?"

"Here and there," Rykar replied, grinning. "I was doing some research and unearthed a rumor that Balfonheim was actually the old capital of Landis. The pirate city! Can you imagine? I suppose the rest of it stemmed from that."

"I see," Larsa replied. "And red. What an interesting color for the leading lady."

"It is the color of love," Rykar gushed. "Of passion. What better color for such a woman?"

"It seemed as though she was just doing what she thought was best for her country," Margarethe said. "And love simply got in the way."

"It is nice to see that you have such an understanding of the character," Rykar replied. "I had worried that people might think her wanton."

"Oh no!" Margarethe exclaimed. "If anything she seemed to suffer an overabundance of human compassion."

A characterization that Larsa had noticed as well. That he wanted to question Rykar about at length. The lady pirate of the opera bore no small resemblance to a certain lady pirate he knew, though he hoped that the love triangle was as much a work of fiction as the use of pirates in the Landis-Nabradia war.

"Did you model her on a lady of your own acquaintance?" Larsa asked, smiling at the man encouragingly.

"Oh that I knew such a lady!" Rykar grinned.

"You must come by the palace sometime so that we can discuss your art further," Larsa said as it was clear he was not going to get any information out of the man at this venue.

"Of course," Rykar agreed. "Now I must excuse myself…"

"Of course, of course!" Margarethe said. "You have other fans to attend to."

"Thank you, Milady, Your Excellency," Rykar said, nodding to them both before taking his leave.

"What an interesting man," Margarethe remarked. "To have gone so easily from being a soldier to an artist."

"Yes," Larsa replied. "He was quite interesting indeed."

#

Two glasses of wine later Larsa was eager to leave. As soon as Margarethe finished her drink, he said, "Shall we go? I have much to do in the morning."

"Of course," Margarethe said beaming. "You must be so busy."

With Margarethe on his arm and Basch leading the way again, Larsa left the opera house. His car was waiting when they reached the entrance and Larsa helped Margarethe into it. Basch took the front seat with the driver leaving them the two of them alone in the back. Larsa wondered why and was about to say something, but the door had already shut and the car was already moving.

"You seem distracted," Margarethe asked. "Is something on your mind?"

"No," Larsa said. "Nothing important."

"You're lying. You must always be thinking of important things."

Larsa shook his head lightly. "Not always."

Margarethe put her hand on his, twining their fingers together. He looked down at their joined hands, forehead pinched just a bit. "It always seemed like you were thinking of important things," she said, lifting his hand and folding it between her own. "That day you apologized to us for my grandfather…"

Larsa looked away. His brother's ghost. Again, of course. He had hoped to avoid this conversation, but now that it was happening he supposed it was inevitable.

"Lady Margarethe—"

She squeezed his hand to stop him. "I wanted so much to hate you," she went on. "To hate all of House Solidor." Larsa did not know how to reply and was saved from doing so when she continued.

"But then I met you," she said. "And you were so sorry. So _genuinely_ sorry for all that had happened even though none of it was your doing. So determined to put it right even though it was the whole of the Empire and you were no older than I. Seeing that gave me strength. I thought, if Lord Larsa can be so strong in spite of all that has happened then I must be strong too."

The admission surprised him, to say the least of it. He turned to her and was about to say something when she shocked him even further by pressing her lips to his. He stiffened, too confused to return the kiss or pull away and before he could make up his mind about what to do, she pulled back, blushing furiously.

"I—I'm so sorry," she stammered, dropping his hand. "I quite forgot myself. I do hope—I—I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to apologize for," Larsa said, a bit too quickly. It took him a moment to regain his composure, but when he did he was able to say in a more gentle tone. "I assure you, no harm was done."

"I was too forward," she said. "I have embarrassed myself."

And what she said so strongly resembled words that Larsa had once spoken that he could not help but feel sympathy for her. "We shall forget it ever happened," he said, taking her hand again. "It will not interfere with our friendship."

"Friendship," Margarethe repeated. "Of course. Of course, I was so silly…"

"I beg your pardon?"

"That girl," Margarethe said, "The older lady at your birthday party. The one that you danced with and disappeared to the garden with… she was Dalmascan or… or something?"

Now Larsa was truly confused. "Penelo?" he guessed. "What about her?"

"I could tell by the way you looked at her," Margarethe said, "like she was some marvelous creature you were lucky to have caught hold of for just so long…"

The pieces fell together all at once, swift as a papercut. "She is a friend," he said. "_Was _a friend."

Margarethe's expression was almost hopeful at that pronouncement. Larsa did not want to mislead her intentionally and so he continued. "I fear I have little room on my mind for anything _but_ friendship."

He almost regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth. He was, after all, of an age for such dalliances, and even young emperors were allowed them. It was beginning to appear likely that he would never speak to Penelo again and he was in no way beholden to her as she had not only rejected him, but gone so far as to terminate their friendship as well.

Margarethe was a beautiful girl and it was actually very _easy_ to imagine more than friendship with her, yet…

Yet it wasn't exactly what he wanted.

He and Margarethe said little else to each other on the rest of the car ride home. They parted with assurances of their continued friendship and Larsa made sure she knew that she was welcome to accompany him to his next event, whatever that might be.

Basch rejoined him in the back seat and though Larsa wanted to ask why he'd been left alone with Margarethe in the first place, he almost feared the answer and so kept his mouth shut for the rest of the trip.

Once at the palace, he retired to his study, hoping to get some extra work done. It was a cool night and the servants had left the doors to the balcony cracked open so that a nice breeze blew through the room. He wanted to write a letter dispatching someone to check that the tax revenue being collected matched appropriately what was being sent to Archades, but for once he could not think of the words.

Could not think of much else but golden hair, hazel eyes, and red feathers.

Larsa opened his desk, pulled out a well-worn book that he'd received as a gift for his fourteenth birthday. He flipped through it, trying to locate one poem in particular and, once he'd found it, read it over a few times before copying it onto the paper in front of him.

_The rains run from the Giza Plains_

_taking even its tears with them._

_What can it have then,_

_to express its sorrow at their absence?_

He waited for the ink to dry before folding up the note and putting it in an envelope, which he addressed to Penelo at Migelo's Sundries in Rabanastre. He didn't bother writing who it was from. He was certain she would know either way.

Basch entered the study; he held his helmet at his side and appeared ready to change out of his armor. "Lord Larsa," he said, "I have come to remind you of the importance of rest."

Larsa smiled at his friend. "Your concern is noted," he said. Then after a moment, "I suppose I will turn in sooner rather than later."

He stood, taking the note in his hand. He passed it to Basch as he passed the Judge. "Will you make sure to post this for me?"

Basch raised an eyebrow at the address, but said nothing other than, "Of course."

"Thank you," Larsa replied.

And he left the room, determined not to think about it any further.

#

When Migelo gave her the note, Penelo couldn't help but feel wary and apprehensive, yet excited as well. She recognized the handwriting on the address immediately, but it wasn't like Larsa to just write her a letter when he had already said he wouldn't.

"Who's that from?" Vaan asked, scratching his head.

He wouldn't know Larsa's handwriting as well as she would, and it was unusual for a letter to be addressed to Migelo's and not their box at the aerodrome.

"I think it's from Larsa," she replied, opening the envelope quickly.

"I thought you guys weren't talking anymore," Vaan said. "Or did you decide to start writing him again?"

"No…" Penelo said, voice trailing off as she read the contents of the note. It was a poem. Just a poem. One she recognized immediately as being from the _Arraya_ collection that she'd given him just a year and a half ago.

She couldn't help but smile in a bittersweet way at it. She had been thinking of Larsa lately, even moreso since word reached them that he'd visited with Queen Ashe in Rabanastre. That visit was something the Scarlet Feathers considered a small victory.

Penelo didn't notice Vaan reading the note over her shoulder until he said, "Wow. I never expected Larsa to be so sappy."

"It's just from the book I gave him for his birthday, remember?" Penelo said.

"Yeah," Vaan said. "Sappy."

Penelo frowned at him.

"Are you gonna write him back?" Vaan asked.

"I don't know," Penelo said, shrugging.

Vaan shrugged back at her. "Whatever," he said. "I'm gonna go to the Sandsea."

Penelo watched him go. He seemed more irritated than usual and she didn't know why. She couldn't help but remember a time when he wasn't so irritable with her, when what he was thinking was never a mystery to her. She missed that even more than she missed writing to Larsa and she wondered if there was any way for them to fix it. Maybe she would drop by the Sandsea in a bit, but the first thing was first.

She didn't want to ignore the poem, but she didn't think it was a good time to just start writing him letters again the way that she'd used to.

She went back to the _Surya _and penned a response, before changing her clothes, and heading off to the Sandsea.

_Rivers have the deepest memories_

_No matter how long the dry season_

_When the water returns, it knows its course_

She dropped it off with the mail courier on her way.

#

They had a raid the next day, there were three ships flying close formation and so the Scarlet Feathers had adapted. They were going to wait until the ships passed through heavy cloud cover. Penelo and Fran would target Aero spells at the two side ships, blowing them off course. Once separated, the _Strahl _and the _Surya_ would deactivate their invisibility, leading the other ships away while a team entered the target ship as usual.

Fran and Penelo had had to practice a good deal to get the targeting just right on the Aero spells as they needed to be exact to disrupt glossair rings, but they both managed to get the hang of it. None of the other pirates were skilled enough with magick to pull it off so even though Balthier and Vaan didn't want to be out of the main action, they didn't have much choice.

"We'll have to fly slower than usual to lure the guard ships away," Balthier grumbled.

"It would be wise of us not to underestimate them," Fran said.

"You guys'll just blow them out of the sky if they get too close anyway," Vaan replied.

"We're not going to blow anybody up."

"We may have to one day, if Archadian money starts pouring into Queen Ashelia's coffer," Balthier pointed out.

"We'll have plans for that too," Penelo argued. "We're not going to blow anybody up."

"I hope you're right."

#

Penelo had almost gotten used to the near daily attacks.

It still wasn't something she enjoyed, but when she saw the townships breaking ground on farms, healing centers, homes… Besides, learning to target the wind spells with the airship moving as fast as it did had been almost fun. It was something that took a lot of concentration. That she was really proud of mastering.

When the _Surya_ closed on its guard ship, pulling right under it, Penelo stationed herself near the door. She hooked herself up to the safety harness and, at Vaan's signal, cracked the door open just so. The wind tore the hood from her head and she was glad that Balthier had thought to get her a wig to play the Lady in. When she was dressed as the Red Lady, she wore her brunette wig in a tightly wound bun at the back of her head. The mask covered her face, and the invisibility core covered her as well, but for some reason she'd always been nervous about her hair. About it getting in her way, about someone recognizing her by it.

She focused on the guard ship's glossair rings, the wind whipping her face and the cloak around her. A spellstone lay ready in her hand and a pouch of them hung at her waist just in case something should go amiss. It was hard to see among the clouds, but she found her target, murmured her spell, and cast.

A jet of wind rushed upward, hitting two skystones embedded in the guard ship's rings. The ship pitched and whirled down and left. Penelo ducked back into the _Surya_ shutting the door behind her, undoing her harness, and running back to her seat.

Vaan was already accelerating to get in front of the guard ship. Jetting off as the guard ship caught sight of them.

"It's fast," Penelo remarked.

"I know," Vaan said. The guard ship had them in its sights. It started firing and Vaan dove a hard right to avoid the bullets. "Damn. You might have to hit them again."

"We'll never get a good line of sight like this," Penelo said. "I'm activating the invisibility core…"

"There's not enough magicite in it," Vaan replied. "We'll get a couple minutes at most—then how are we supposed to get away?" He pulled up on the controls and shoved back down as they dodged another barrage of fire.

"Do a hard brake, low, let them fly over us," Penelo said, "I'm setting it to engage in sixty seconds for five all right?"

"Yeah," Vaan said, "Ok, _go_."

Penelo flipped a switch and then ran back to the door, struggling to keep her balance as the ship rolled under her. She flipped and fell forward, saved at the last second by grabbing onto the harness and using it to pull herself up. She strapped into it, just in time as the invisibility core kicked in. They vanished from sight and Vaan pulled a hard brake, slamming her into the door. "Ngh," she grunted at the impact. Her shoulder hurt and she felt like her neck had nearly snapped, but she grit her teeth against the pain, readied a spellstone, and shoved open the door.

She knew they were popping back into sight as she took aim and cast. The guard ship had started to turn just as the Aero hit it and it spiraled out and down. For a tense moment Penelo thought that she'd missed. That her spell had been too strong. That the ship was actually going to crash, but it recovered at the last second, leveling out and rising.

Penelo slammed the door shut again, jumped out of her harness, and ran back to her seat.

"Couerl's in the bag," A crackling voice came in over their short range communications system.

"Vaan, get us out of here!" Penelo said, re-engaging the invisibility core.

"You don't have to tell me twice," he replied, gunning the engine and making a beeline for the cloud cover.

The rendezvous point was in the North Liavell Hills this time. It was one of the hardest places to land in all of Ivalice what with the winds and the uneven terrain. The Archadians would never think to look for them there.

"Keep her steady over the hills," Penelo warned.

"I know," Vaan said. "It's not like we've never landed there before."

That quieted Penelo. She remembered the last time they'd been to the Liavell Hills—it was just after he'd kissed her the first time, the day was cool, and the wind wasn't too terrible. He'd made sandwiches for the both of them and she remembered being thrilled that he'd gotten up early just to get fresh tomatoes for hers, even though he hated both getting up early and tomatoes.

They'd spread a blanket out over the grass and watched the clouds idle by overhead. She recalled a rather spirited argument over whether one particular cloud most resembled a moogle or a sleipnir that had ended with them rolling around trying to stuff grass into each other's hair. He'd managed to get on top of her, holding her arms up above her head so that the pile of dirt she'd been meaning to rub on his vest fell to the ground instead.

"Hey!" she'd protested. "No fair!"

"Fair?" Vaan had teased. "Your fault for picking a fight with someone bigger than you."

She'd pouted at him and he'd grinned at her. "You're just lucky I like you," he'd said, loosening his grip on her arms and leaning in to kiss her.

"Hey," Vaan said in the present. "We're getting close to the hills. You need to pay better attention."

Penelo snapped to. Made a few adjustments on the console in front of her. "I _am_ paying attention," she lied.

"Yeah, whatever."

They sat in silence then, both concentrating on the task of keeping the airship from diving into one of the hills.

"Hey," Vaan said as though he'd been reading her mind, "Do you remember the last time we were here?"

"Yeah," Penelo said, reluctantly.

"Why don't we ever have days like that anymore?" he asked, and Penelo could feel that old irritation stirring in her again. She was about to snap at him when he went on. "I mean I _know_," he said. "I know what I said—what I did, it was stupid, ok? And I'm sorry. I'm really sorry."

It was something she'd been waiting to hear for a long time, though she wasn't quite sure how she felt about any of it.

"We can talk about it when we land," she said. "We have to concentrate remember?"

"Yeah," Vaan said.

Penelo couldn't tell whether it was disappointment or exhaustion she heard in his voice.

* * *

><p>CHAPTER SEVEN PREVIEW:<p>

_What goes up_

* * *

><p>NOTES: I just noticed that the chapters I write for this story are really long, so I think there's a whole lot of stuff happening in very few chapters, but then I realize that each chapter is twice the length of chapters I write for other things :S. Also I feel really bad for Margarethe here, like I've created this girl just to suffer terrible, crushing heartbreak. Oh well... she's young, she'll get over it. Next chapter is looking like it has more Action!Penelo and Politicking!Larsa<p>

THANK YOU: _Yuna Black - _I was worried too, but I think it's working out a lot better. I went on a spree and managed to finish drafts up to chapter nine on this story and when I was reading back to the first chapters they didn't quite fit, so I modified them. I'm constantly going back and changing small things for cohesion and trying to spend a lot more time reading and revising stuff before I post it. This is the first fanfic I've written in a long time, so I admit to being more than a little rusty :/, but I'm chuggin' along! _Ariels Lament _- Thank you! I actually read a few of your stories and they were so funny they made me feel bad that this story is not really that funny. SIGH. Balthier's mini-rant was one of my favorite things in chapter four too and I'm really glad you liked it! They'll reconcile soon-ish. _Marta _- Thank you! _Kiki _- You totally weren't crazy. I was crazy for having posted that in the first place. It was really really really really terribly bad and I'm sorry if you read it. I like the replacement much better.


	7. seven: what goes up

ON YOUR WINGS

_chapter seven: what goes up_

* * *

><p>They were the first ones to land on the appointed hill. Penelo checked and double checked to make sure they were at the right coordinates. "It's definitely the place," she said, coming out of the airship to stand next to Vaan.<p>

"I would've expected the _Strahl_ to beat us here," Vaan said, looking up at the sky. "Not that I think they're faster than us or anything."

Penelo had the same concern, because the _Strahl_ was a faster ship—it was just a fact of the machinery. "They probably just had to run the ship farther off course than we did," she said. "And they were supposed to go west, so that makes sense."

What neither of them had wanted to say was that since they had intercepted the merchant ship over the Salikawood, west took them dangerously close to Archadian territory. The Cerobi Steppe was one thing—the air currents made regular patrols there difficult and so it was mostly left to Balfonheim to take care of the border there and if the Archadians _did_ decide to take a closer look at Balfonheim and the Steppe, Elza would hear of it first.

There was always heavy Mist in the Nabreus Deadlands that had a tendency to muck with airship controls, but many of the Archadian ships still had manufacted nethicite aboard that allowed them to fly nonetheless. Patrols were infrequent there, but not unheard of—especially with the new pirate threat. Penelo couldn't help but worry just a little.

"Yeah," Vaan said, patting her shoulder. "I'll grab a blanket."

He went back into the airship and Penelo waited outside, looking up at the clouds rolling by. Vaan reemerged with a big patchwork blanket that he spread over the grass in front of them. Penelo sat down, stretching her legs out in front of her. Vaan sat so close next to her that their arms were touching, but he didn't make a move to put his around her.

"Hey," he said, "What we were talking about before…"

"Yeah?" Penelo asked. Her heart thumped hard against her ribcage. She'd thought of what she might want him to say. "I'm sorry and I was stupid" were part of it, but there had been all these other little things she'd hoped for like "When I said I wasn't ready, I was just scared because I care about you so much" or something. Everything she had imagined would be sufficient was apologetic and grandly romantic.

In the end, though, he ended up saying none of that, and she couldn't stop herself from melting anyway.

"I _miss_ you."

He picked up her hand, tentatively, running his fingers across hers.

"I miss you too," she said, squeezing his hand back.

They couldn't quite see each other's faces, because of the masks they wore, but by his eyes she could tell he was smiling. He put his arm around her then, and she leaned into him. They sat quietly, watching the skies together.

#

Shortly afterward, the _Leta_ appeared in the sky and the two sky pirates got up and straightened themselves out to meet the crew. The _Leta _came to a bumpy landing near them. A woman Penelo recognized as Reina disembarked first, clipboard in hand, followed by the crew and then Captain Stakke.

"The _Strahl_'s not here yet?" Stakke asked, scanning the horizon, concern apparent in his voice.

"They were supposed to peel off west," Vaan said. "It's probably just taking them extra time to circle back around."

"There's nothing we can do about it but wait," Reina said. "Here's the take." She went over to Penelo with the clipboard so she could look over the numbers and check her calculations. The split between the pirates and the townships worked out all right. Penelo flipped the page and started writing the names of towns, calculating the amount that should go to each place.

That work always bored Vaan, so he went to talk with Stakke and his crew. "I hope Raz and the crew in the Westersand are ok," Reina said as she watched Penelo go through the numbers.

There were a few merchant ships taking a route over West Nabradia that the crews were supposed to intercept over the ocean. The Scarlet Feathers had so far avoided the area, so those ships were lightly guarded and still traveling on their own. There were two intercepts planned, that Raz was coordinating. Their rendezvous was in the Westersand and the North group was supposed to meet them in Rabanastre in the evening.

"I'm sure they're fine," Penelo said. "Raz knows what he's doing."

She finished with the numbers, making a mental note to have Fran look over them later. Stakke and his crew were having a miniature celebration, the Captain himself having opened up a bottle of Archadian whisky. "Liberated this from the _Eurydice_," he said loudly, holding it up to massive cheers. "A toast to our lovely Red Lady!"

More cheering. Penelo looked up and smiled, though they couldn't see it. Just then, she noticed a speck on the horizon, coming in fast. "The _Strahl_," she said, pointing. Everyone turned to watch as the _Strahl _landed hot nearby. Balthier and Fran rushed out of the ship almost as soon as it came to a halt on the grass.

"What's the rush?" Stakke asked as Balthier and Fran speedwalked by them.

"We have a problem," Balthier said, taking Penelo by the arm and nodding to the _Surya_. "Big one."

Penelo hugged the clipboard to her chest, gave him a look, and then turned to get on her ship. Balthier followed close behind her and Fran stayed outside, apparently to explain something to Reina. Penelo knew Vaan would be annoyed at being left out of the conversation, but he was with Stakke and there was no way for Penelo to call him over without being too obvious.

As soon as they were both on the _Surya_, Balthier slammed the hatch shut behind them.

"What's going on?" Penelo asked.

Balthier pulled off his mask. "We ran into trouble," he said. "Over the Nabreus Deadlands, there was an Archadian patrol."

"Did they follow you?" Penelo asked, already knowing the answer would be negative. If Balthier knew he was being followed he would never have stopped there.

"What sort of pirate do you think I am?" Balthier said, mocking her question. "They _did_ give us a merry chase, to be sure. We lost them over the Mosphoran Highwaste. One of the ships chasing us went down over the mountains and we used the smoke as a screen to get away."

"One of the ships _went down?_" Penelo asked. So that was the problem. The big problem.

"Evasive maneuvering," Balthier shrugged. "We happened to move more evasively than they were able to follow, apparently."

Penelo rose a hand to cover her mouth in horror. She closed her eyes and finally covered the rest of her face. "So the men in the ship that was chasing you…"

"Are likely not in good health any longer," Balthier said. "All that may be fine in the course of pirating, but it _does_ mean that the Archadians will be much more serious about us. They will put extreme pressure on our good Queen to destroy us and I would make a fair bet that this area and Balfonheim will come under much stricter supervision. We should move as soon as we possibly can. Fran is already telling Stakke to make for Bhujerba."

"That sounds like a plan," Penelo said, "We have to meet Raz in Rabanastre."

"And we will still do that," Balthier replied. "However the _Strahl_ is dangerously low on fuel. Fran will be siphoning off the _Leta_. With the air currents the way they are, we should be able to make it to Bhujerba to refuel and then meet you and Vaan in Rabanastre later. But we'll need to discuss how we are going to proceed and soon."

Penelo nodded. "Let's hurry then," she said. "We'll see you in Rabanastre."

Balthier put his mask back on and opened the hatch again.

Vaan was waiting outside the door. "What's going on?" he asked, hands on his hips.

"We're going to Rabanastre," Penelo said.

"Fran and I will meet you there later," Balthier said, nodding at Vaan as he left the ship.

"What was that all about?" Vaan said, coming into the ship. He closed the door behind him and took off his mask. Penelo removed hers as well and looked down sadly.

"A ship that was chasing Balthier and Fran crashed into the mountains," she said, "Come on we have to get out of here."

"An Archadian ship?" Vaan asked, jumping into the pilot's seat. And Penelo almost thought he was going to say something stupid like 'So what?' but instead he seemed to think about it for a second as she powered up the ship. "Do you think they're gonna say it was shot down?"

Penelo was already nodding when Vaan said, "Who am I kidding, of course they're gonna say it was shot down."

"Let's just hurry and get to Rabanastre."

#

When Larsa heard that an Archadian ship had been shot down, he said a prayer to every god he could think of that Penelo and Vaan were not involved. The initial crash report showed no sign of bullets or any indication that what had happened was more than a terrible accident, but the crew on the other ships that had been patrolling swore up and down that the airship they'd been pursuing had fired on them.

The uproar in the Senate was immediate and intense. Legionnaires were dispatched to patrol the Phon Coast, the Cerobi Steppe, and Balfonheim immediately. The only thing that prevented the military from flying immediately into Dalmasca was an urgent letter from Al-Cid Margrace warning that the Rozarrian Conquisors were watching carefully. Unable to breach Dalmascan territory, the Senate called an emergency meeting to see what could be done.

"These pirates have grown too bold," Senator Travik said, "This is tantamount to a declaration of war!"

Larsa knew it would be pointless to discuss the veracity of the report. Instead he rather calmly asked, "By whom? Certainly not Dalmasca. Queen Ashelia has been quite persistent in her requests for aid against the Scarlet Feathers."

"Indeed," Senator Aramanth was agreeing. "The Queen's assessment of her kingdom's state appears to have been correct after all."

"It is _quite_ unsettling that such a large group exists that can challenge the Queen's authority," Senator Nidoren remarked. "Ashelia Dalmasca has, so far, been cooperative and this 'Red Lady' appears to be horrifyingly wild."

"I have spoken with Queen Ashelia at length upon this matter," Larsa said. "I believe that given aid, she _will_ be able to eliminate the pirate threat."

"Aid to her military, you mean?" Senator Mendelan asked. "How do you propose to do that without the Rozarrians objecting?"

"Quite simply," Larsa replied, "By renegotiating our peace treaty with Dalmasca. We can easily provide aid to the military through the guise of increased reparations."

"So you propose that we _reward_ Queen Ashelia for being unable to police her own lands?" Senator Travik asked incredulously.

"I propose only that we provide Queen Ashelia the means to keep her people under control," Larsa replied, his voice even.

"If Dalmasca is indeed so wild," Senator Aramanth chimed in, "It can only be to our benefit to tame her. Ashelia has been, as Nidoren has already stated, quite cooperative with us so far."

"Shall we put it to a vote?" Chairman Penicot asked. "The Emperor has made his stance on this matter quite clear and it is up to us to now reach a consensus before we can move forward. Do we require further discussion on the subject of a peace treaty renegotiation?"

"The agreement itself will require a different vote, will it not?" asked Senator Hastings after clearing his throat loudly.

"Of course," Chairman Penicot replied. "We would vote now to see if we will even pursue the course of renegotiation."

"I will second the motion to put the issue of renegotiation to a vote," Senator Mendelan said, "Better to get this decided as soon as possible."

"All in favor, then," Chairman Penicot said, "Say 'aye'."

Eight senators agreed to the proposal to renegotiate quickly. Travik, very pointedly disagreed.

"That settles it," the Chairman said. "Lord Larsa, if you would please make your proposal available to the rest of the Senate so that we may make adjustments where we see fit. We will reconvene in three days to finalize what we believe should be the terms of the treaty. Meanwhile, word must be sent to Queen Ashelia. If she could be here by the end of the week to sign the treaty, I believe that would be ideal."

"I will send her a letter as soon as possible," Larsa said, nodding.

"Any objections should be noted in writing," the Chairman said. "This meeting is now adjourned."

#

In the weeks following, it was harder and harder to meet. There were Dalmascan knights all over the place, even in the Sandsea. The Imperial Legion moved into Balfonheim and were doing regular foot patrols across the Cerobi Steppe. Archadia had indeed made some sort of investment in the Dalmascan military, giving them new airships as well so that they could patrol the skies for any suspicious activity and so that Archadian merchant ships could receive a military escort. The townships received an influx of official funds as well, which was some cause for celebration.

The Scarlet Feathers showed face on some occasions. The _Strahl_ or the _Surya_ would poke out and lead the guards around on a chase just to show that the pirates were still around. There were one or two ships that still passed without a heavy guard and they concocted elaborate plans to heist those whenever they could. But none of them had any intention of continuing much longer. They had been at it for nearly three months and they'd all grown rich, wary, and tired.

Neither the Archadian nor the Dalmascan military was allowed in Bhujerba, and so that's where Balthier, Fran, Penelo, and Vaan met to discuss what to do next. "We've achieved some success," Balthier said. "But they won't stop chasing until they find us."

"So what do we do?" Vaan said. "Everybody's already laying low. Are we supposed to let them catch somebody?"

"We'll have to give them the Lady," Balthier said. "Without her there's no organization."

"You're joking," Vaan said, grabbing Penelo's hand defensively. "That's not going to happen."

"He does not mean literally," Fran explained.

"Oh, of course not," Balthier said. "Stakke and his daughter are looking to retire. Pirating's apparently gotten a little too dangerous."

"Aria?" Vaan asked.

"She's no good as a navigator anyway," Balthier grumbled. "Nearly killed me on the Cerobi Steppe that first run."

"I thought you said she was fine?" Penelo asked.

"I may have told a small mistruth to spare the girl's feelings," Balthier said. "In any case they've agreed to let us use both their names and their ship."

"To do what?" Vaan asked.

By the mischievous glint in Balthier's eye, Penelo thought she'd already figured out what his plan was. "To crash it," she guessed.

"Well, aren't you just brighter than you look?" Balthier asked, settling back in his seat. "We fake your deaths; make a nice big explosion, set Aria and Stakke up in one of the up and coming towns with different names, maybe a little shop. Call it a day."

"Are you sure that's even going to work?" Vaan asked.

"It had better," Balthier said. "We've already started spreading the rumors."

#

When Larsa had a moment, he tallied up the things he knew about the Red Lady.

She was a woman, a young woman apparently. She seemed to be always with a partner. She was an accomplished mage. She was daring, kind, filled with a kind of misguided patriotism.

He knew that he was more inclined to think it was Penelo with no proof one way or the other. She was the only young woman who was also a pirate that he knew. He'd tried to grill Rykar, the opera composer, for more information about his play unsuccessfully. "It is just a work of fiction," the man had said rather gratingly. "Any resemblance to reality is purely coincidental."

Coincidental! It had been all Larsa could do not to jump the table and strangle the man right there.

He tallied up then, all the things he _didn't_ know about the Red Lady.

Her name. Her voice. Her eye color. What she looked like at all. What her partner looked like.

They said that her hair was brown, but hair was an easy thing to change, he'd heard. She could be wearing a wig. She could have dyed it. Still, it was rather a lot of missing information, he thought, to just go ahead and assume that it was her. But then again there was the poem she'd sent him. About rivers having memories, that made it sound like she was sure they'd renew their friendship someday. But after what? He wondered. Why not right then?

"Lord Larsa," Basch said, bursting in on his nervous spiral of thought.

"Yes?" Larsa asked. The papers were askew on his desk and he'd been leant over it, head in hands. He didn't even bother to hide his worry from his—perhaps only now—friend.

"The Red Lady's identity has been discerned. In Balfonheim, she's been recognized as a pirate girl named Aria Stakke."

"You're sure?" Larsa asked. The relief he felt was as undisguisable as his despair had been earlier.

"Yes," Basch said. "The Imperial Legion broke into a meeting between her and two of her captains and pursued them. They unfortunately managed to elude the guards, but at least we know there is no question about who she is."

It was excellent news to be sure; however one thing still bothered the emperor. "They have been so careful to this point. Why be so incautious now?"

"Lord Larsa," Basch said. "That may be a thing it would be best not to think on too much."

Larsa was more than happy to take the man's advice.

#

For the sham to work, practice was required and so Vaan and Penelo were onboard the _Leta_ with Captain Stakke and his navigator Bruno guiding them through the controls. They weren't entirely unfamiliar—most airships shared a number of similarities—but Vaan and Penelo had to be experts. They had to know how to fly her as well as her regular crew—better than, perhaps.

They practiced everything from pulling out of careening dives to leveling out on high winds. They flew dangerously close to Jagd and pushed the craft as fast as she would go. Once they were able to control their dives, Penelo practiced rushing to the hatch, throwing it open, and casting spells as they fell. When she'd got the timing down, she and Vaan switched seats and she practiced the dive while he practiced the run back.

There was ground work to do as well. Part of getting out alive required some rather delicate spellwork that Penelo practiced on the both of them. They were going to wear parachutes, but simply inflating them would not be enough to get them away from the crash as the _Leta_ had no ejection system. Penelo, then, had to cast a kind of Aero spell to propel them away. Getting the strength to lift both Vaan and herself without damaging either of them too much was difficult in itself.

She practiced propelling herself away from the airship many times as well. She had to push them over into Jagd without blowing the crashing airship off course. Everything had to be exactly right. Their lives depended on it.

"I can pilot the _Leta_," Balthier had offered. "It was my plan, after all."

"No," Vaan had insisted. "We're _partners_."

"You would be too heavy," Penelo had said. "It's hard enough with just me and Vaan as it is."

Practicing brought them closer too. Their relationship was almost what it had been just after that first kiss, only with all kinds of complicated things like fake airship crashes and difficult magick. Penelo was almost comfortable with the whole thing. She and Vaan working so closely together felt _right_, and she was glad that the pirating was coming to an end.

Finally, one day the made the full run. There was a storm on the Yensa Sandsea and the Jagd was fluctuating, Vaan and Penelo steered the ship just close to it, initiated the crash. Balthier took the controls from Vaan as Penelo cast invisibility on both of them before they ran to the hatch, opened their parachutes. Penelo cast her Aero and they flew safely away from the _Leta_ over the Jagd where Fran picked them up in the _Strahl_.

"That was great," Vaan said as soon as they landed. "We did it."

"Just once," Fran said. "More practice would be safer."

Penelo agreed with the viera. The pair couldn't afford even the smallest mistake as it would surely cost them their lives.

#

Ashe, for her part, was even more worried about her friends than Larsa. She had promised the Red Lady's head to the Archadians in exchange for the renegotiated treaty. Only _she_ was certain that that head belonged to a dear friend. Every day that went by that a Scarlet Feathers ship was sighted bothering the Archadians was a day that she worried her knights might have to shoot Penelo and Vaan down. Some gratitude that would be.

When she heard that the Archadians believed the Red Lady had been sighted in Balfonheim and identified as Aria Stakke, she didn't know whether to be relieved or incredulous. What could they be playing at? She wondered. It didn't seem like her friends to sacrifice some innocent girl to save themselves.

Then she received the letter from Migelo. A bangaa she had met briefly as a friend of Vaan's and Penelo's, who'd catered her coronation and owned a shop in the city. It seemed innocuous enough, saying only that he had a friend Amalia who would be opening up a shop in a town called Ahbaz in East Nabradia with her father. It was obviously a message and so Ashe did the first thing that came to mind and lightened the guard in Ahbaz, making sure that only her oldest and most trusted knights were stationed there for a while.

She didn't entirely know the reason, but there wasn't much else that she could do.

#

The pirate quartet bided their time, honing their skills until they heard of a ship going from Archades traveling near enough to the Ogir-Yensa Sandsea for their trick to work. They set out, at first treating it like it was a normal robbery. They had to be deliberately, flagrantly inept in their attempt for the Dalmascan knights to not only follow the, but see clearly that it was the Red Lady aboard.

As Vaan pulled up to the merchant ship, he slowed and said, "This is it. It's not too late to pull back and pick another day. You ready?"

"Yeah," Penelo said. "Let's get this over with I'm done with pirating. Maybe Ashe and Larsa can finally stop worrying."

She thought she heard Vaan make some kind of noise, but she wasn't quite sure she hadn't imagined it a minute later. "Ok," she said for good measure, just before she engaged the invisibility core. Vaan surged the _Leta _forward, pulling them down under the merchant ship and between two of the military airships.

Penelo took a deep breath; her finger hovered over the controls for the invisibility core. Once the ships were visible, the military ships would have to fire and them. Penelo would have to be visible as well, hanging out of the hatch and casting a spell. She went through it quickly in her head as she set the timer, harness, hatch, Aero, hatch harness. She exhaled. "All right," she said, "Ready?"

"Whenever you are," Vaan said.

No stalling then. Without giving herself too much time to think about it, Penelo jammed the appropriate button and ran back to the hatch. She did up her harness, readied her spellstone, threw open the door, and as the wind blew back her hood, she heard the telltale buzzer that let them know they were fully visible. She cast an Aeroga, not really targeting it at all, just wanting to ruffle the military ships.

The wind upset them just as they were about to open fire, and the _Leta_ dropped suddenly as Vaan moved to dodge, tried to compensate for the sudden, wild wind. Penelo waited til she was sure she'd been seen before yanking the door closed, undoing her harness, and practically tumbling back to her seat. Vaan was gunning for the Sandsea and she could already feel the rumble of Mist laden air running around their ship.

The Dalmascan military was in hot pursuit, but the ships weren't _quite_ as fast as the Archadian's had been, though their bullets were just as deadly. They closed on the Sandsea quicker than expected, and the _Leta _danced around its border. The ship pitched against the Mist, and a stray bullet from one of the Dalmascan military ships managed to slam into her pushing her closer than they'd meant to go to the desert.

"Damn!" Vaan said, as the controls started failing.

"Come on," Penelo said. She cast their invisibility spells as she and Vaan scrambled out of their seats and toward the door. Vaan grabbing a can of oil and throwing it around liberally as they went.

He tossed the can back toward the pilot's seat and shoved the door open. Penelo took his hand in hers and had to yell over the rush of air. "ONE, TWO, THREE!"

On three they both pulled their parachutes, Penelo cast the Aero, and they blew away from the crashing _Leta_ and the chasing Dalmascan ships that halted at a safe distance from the Sandsea since they were not outfitted to fly over Jagd. As they soared up and away, Penelo pulled a few spellstones from her pouch, struggling to hold onto just one as she cast a Firaga at the wreck. The Dalmascans would have to assume that the ship had been attacked by an entite. That the pilots had been burned to a crisp.

Vaan was floating a ways away from her, but they were both coming down behind a large dune. A good thing since Penelo knew their spells were going to wear off at any second. She saw Vaan hit the ground running just seconds before she touched down. She felt her foot hit the sand, harder than she'd expected, and her ankle rolled painfully under her. "Aah!" she gasped as she slammed into the sand.

Her partner rushed over to her as fast as he could. "Are you all right?" he asked.

"I'm fine," she said, "It's just my foot—it's ok."

Guided by their parachutes, the _Strahl_ found them and landed to collect them. Balthier helped Penelo pull up her parachute and carried her onto the ship, while Vaan was left to deal with his own chute and follow.

On the _Strahl,_ Penelo strapped into the seat behind Fran while Vaan took the one behind Balthier. She cast a quick cure on her leg with her last spellstone. It did well to numb the pain, and she figured she could take better care of it as soon as they landed.

"Well then, let's be off," Balthier said, as the _Strahl_ lifted off the ground. "Wouldn't want to miss Aria's funeral."

Penelo and Vaan couldn't help but look at each other and grin.

* * *

><p>CHAPTER EIGHT PREVIEW:<p>

_Irreconcilable differences_

* * *

><p>NOTES: Short-ish chapter winding down the pirate arc of this story. Not that I didn't like it, it just couldn't go on forever. Next chapter starts the beginning of the end for Penelo and Vaan and sort of the beginning of the beginning for Penelo and Larsa.<p>

THANK YOU: _jesswilliams – _Glad you're still reading! Have I mentioned I love your icon? Cause I love your icon. _Ariels Lament _– Thank you for not hating the poetry! Sorry about no Ashe dealing with the Senate; I'd started writing a section like that and then found it didn't quite go with the flow of the story :/ I feel like you're giving me too much credit, but I'm not going to complain about it :D Your stories are totally amazing though, so it's a really great compliment! _stainedwithlove_ – I love Basch! I was almost going to start writing a Basch focused story somewhere in the middle of writing this one, but I didn't want to ADD out of this. He always struck me as the kind of guy that wouldn't complain though, and since this is an L&P story it's sort of hard to go into that, although I do have a few later chapters that are pretty Basch-y sketched out. I didn't mean for Ashe to sound vapid, necessarily, although she did always strike me as more of a doer than a planner. I thought I mentioned the profit, but it deserves another look on my part if it wasn't clear; I also figured that Balthier would have been familiar with what was going in Balfonheim earlier but I could probably make that more obvious. Vaan _is_ a brat. It kind of comes to a head next chapter... _always-kh –_ Thanks for reading and dropping a review!


	8. eight: irreconcilable differences

ON YOUR WINGS

_chapter eight: irreconcilable differences_

* * *

><p>Fran dropped them off in Ahbaz and flew off with the <em>Strahl<em>.

"You're not staying?" Penelo had asked.

"I have business in the Salikawood," she'd replied. "I will meet with you in the morning."

Once she'd gone, Vaan asked Balthier, "She can fly the ship on her own?"

"Years of practice," Balthier replied. "Now then, shall we?"

Vaan and Penelo had changed into their regular clothes on the _Strahl_, but Penelo's ankle was still hurting her a bit. "I'm going to the _Surya_ first," she said. Stakke and his navigator had flown it to the village for them and Fran had conveniently dropped them right next to it.

"Meet you at the bar?" Vaan asked.

"Yeah, sure," Penelo said, surprised when he turned and walked straight away.

"Brilliant boy, he is," Balthier said, offering Penelo his arm and helping her to her ship. "Small wonder you put up with him."

"I cast a Cure on the _Strahl_," Penelo said. "He probably thought it was better."

"That injury requires much more than a Cure," Balthier replied. "For someone so good at healing others you are startlingly bad at healing yourself."

Penelo was about to protest, but she realized that the fact that she couldn't walk properly on her own pretty well invalidated anything she could say. "Better at it than you," she said.

"Yes, yes, of course." Balthier set her down on her cot inside the ship and gave her a few spellstones. "There you go," he said, "I'm pouring us drinks."

"Thank you."

Penelo got to work casting her curing spells while Balthier popped open the bottle of whisky she had under her desk and poured it doubles into the two glasses he found at the top of it.

"Quality stuff," Balthier said, admiring the label as he passed Penelo her drink.

"I think this is some of the stuff that Stakke 'liberated' the day that Archadian ship crashed," Penelo said, taking a break from her healing to clink her glass against Balthier's and take a big gulp. "You don't have to stay with me," Penelo said, "You can go ahead to the bar if you want."

"That would be startlingly impolite. Incredibly ungentlemanly of me," Balthier said, finishing off his drink and pouring a new one.

Not wanting to be outdone, Penelo finished her drink as well and held the empty glass out for Balthier to refill. He raised an eyebrow at her.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing," he replied. "I didn't take you for a drinker."

"How long have you known me?" Penelo asked rhetorically, taking a sip and turning back to her ankle.

"Apparently not long enough."

#

Another glass later and Penelo's ankle was feeling better and she was feeling tipsy. "Let's go!" she exclaimed, hopping off the bed.

"One more," Balthier said, pouring them a shot each. "We'll have to catch up with the celebrants at the inn, no doubt."

Penelo clinked her glass against his. "Cheers to that," she said, "I'll be surprised if Vaan and Stakke aren't tripping all over themselves singing yet."

"Oh we can only hope," Balthier said, knocking his drink back.

Penelo skipped out of the _Surya_, leaving Balthier to shut the door behind them. "Hurry up!" she exclaimed, as she rushed toward the inn.

She wanted to scoot up next to Vaan, let him put his arm around her, nestle into his neck. Now that it was all over she was happier than she'd been in months.

Happier that was, until she and Balthier walked into the inn.

The people already inside were drunk, all right. That much Penelo had expected. What she hadn't expected, what sent her mood crashing just as surely as the _Leta_ had hit the sand, was the fact that Vaan occupied a chair, smiling and playing cards with Aria on his lap, giggling and fussing with his hair.

"Stupid boy," Penelo heard Balthier mutter under his breath. "Come on now," he said louder, clapping her hand on a shoulder. "Let's get us a drink, shall we?"

#

The night wore on with Vaan mostly ignoring Penelo and fawning over Aria. She couldn't figure out what had happened, was so confused she didn't even know how hurt she was. Just before they'd boarded the _Leta_, he'd kissed her and everything had seemed fine. They should have been closer together not sitting tables apart ignoring each other. She went over the whole thing in her head, from the takeoff to the crash and then finally the landing in Ahbaz and she couldn't find anything wrong with any of it.

Meanwhile she was getting drunk. Very drunk. And Balthier was getting drunk with her. "Would be nice if Fran were here," he was saying, "She's much better at this sort of thing."

More than being apparently repulsive to Vaan she was also a burden to Balthier. "I'm done," she said, "I'm going back to my ship." As soon as she said it she remembered that it wasn't just her ship. It was her and _Vaan's _ship. A ship on which half of everything belonged to him. She leaned forward against the table, putting her head down miserably. "Unhh."

"Come on," Balthier said, "I've got a room."

Penelo allowed herself to be helped up from the table and walked down the hallway. Balthier stopped them in front of a door suddenly and Penelo fell against him. "Now, now then," he said, "Just a moment." He fumbled with the key for a bit and finally managed to fit it in the lock. He swung the door open slowly, holding Penelo so she wouldn't fall over and then walking her to the bed.

"I don't get it," she moaned. "Everything was going so _well_."

"I'm sure he'll have an explanation in the morning," Balthier said, sitting next to her and putting a comforting arm around her.

"I don't want to hear an explanation," Penelo said. "How could he _do_ this to me?"

"Did anything happen?" Balthier asked.

"No!" she practically yelled. "We were just on the ship and we were saying we were ready to do the thing and all I said was I was so glad it was over and that Ashe and Larsa could stop worrying and…"

"Larsa?" Balthier repeated.

"And Ashe," Penelo insisted. "I mean they must have been. Worrying. Is there something wrong with me?" she asked Balthier pointedly. She put his hand on his. "I mean _is_ there?"

Balthier brushed a bit of her hair out of her face, hand lingering against her cheek. "Nothing that I see," he said. "It's like I said. Startlingly stupid boy."

Penelo thought of Vaan and Aria sitting together out there, laughing together. He was probably playing with her hair. Probably had his arms around her stomach. Probably. Probably… She wanted the image out of her head so badly; she didn't even know what she was doing when she leaned into him almost expectantly.

Balthier caught her by the shoulders gently pushing her back.

"That would perhaps be unwise," he said. "I am bored and you are in the mind for revenge and much as I would not _mind_..."

Brain effectively scrambled, Penelo didn't move. Was shaking her head slowly against his. Her stomach turned over and she felt something slosh and bubble up her throat, so she covered her mouth and bolted for the bathroom.

As Penelo's insides dumped out of her she swore that she would never take another drink again. Well maybe not never again, but perhaps not so many in such quick succession. Once she'd finished, she turned on the tap, rinsed out her mouth and wiped her face. She looked terrible and she was terribly embarrassed, nauseated, still drunk.

Penelo shook her head. "I don't know why… I didn't mean…"

"Quite all right," Balthier said, trying and failing to straighten his shirt. "I dare say your situation is complicated enough as it is, what with Vaan and your Little Lord Larsa."

"You keep… you keep saying Larsa," Penelo slurred, shaking her head and ignoring the rest of what he'd said. "Why?"

"Vaan always complains about him when he's drunk with us," Balthier said, moving over to the couch with one of the blankets in hand. "'Why does Penelo have to write to Larsa so much? Why is she always talking about him? Do you know what she gave Larsa for his birthday? It was this book—it's her favorite thing in the world—why would she give that to Larsa, like he can't get books on his own? She was dancing with Larsa all night and they disappear into the garden and blah blah, she says she's going to stop writing to him, but then she just spends all her time moping cause she's not writing to him,' and on and on and on..." Balthier recited in a whiny tone that made him look a little ridiculous as he swayed on the couch. "I think he's a bit jealous, to be honest," he whispered, as though he was pretending to tell a secret.

Penelo's jaw dropped. She couldn't help it. Her head was spinning. "Jealous?" she asked. "Of _Larsa_."

"It would appear so," Balthier said, fluffing up one of the couch pillows. "He complains about it fair often. The same things too, over and over. We had to stop asking him where you were because he'd keep saying 'she's reading these books that _Larsa_ gave her _again_,' etcetera, etcetera..."

Penelo heard the words, but they weren't quite processing. It just sounded so _strange_. "But why?" she asked, still trying to understand what Balthier was saying.

"According to Vaan the Lordlet is quite and quite obviously enamored of you," Balthier said. "Supposedly he stares at you with 'puppy dog eyes' and is always 'way too' excited to see you. And of course, when you disappeared away into the garden with him Vaan quite assumed that something had gone on."

Penelo scratched her head, struggling to think of what he could mean. "Well we kissed, but it wasn't…"

"Ah," Balthier said, interested all of a sudden. "So something _did_ go on?"

But the memory was so faint in Penelo's mind. She couldn't remember exactly what had gone on or why it had happened. All she remembered was the way it had felt, which was strange though not entirely unpleasant. Brief, she remembered. It had been brief and so she latched onto that. "I think it was an accident," she said, rubbing her head. "Like I was going to kiss him on the cheek—"

"And he turned to catch your lips?" Balthier finished. "Classic move, that one is."

"No, no," Penelo said. "That's not right. Maybe it was the other way around."

"So you stole a kiss from him then?"

"No!" Penelo exclaimed. "Hey why are we talking about me? What about you? I mean what about you and Fran?" she said, trying desperately to get off the subject of Larsa and kisses. It made her head hurt fiercely.

"We have an understanding," Balthier said. "I had thought you and Vaan were the same at first, but after he started complaining about Larsa it was fairly clear that you were not exactly. It might do you well to ask Vaan what he actually _wants_."

There it was again. Penelo almost groaned. Instead she rolled over, pulled her blanket over her head and announced, "I'm going to sleep."

"Wonderful idea," Balthier said and she heard him getting comfortable on the couch. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

#

Morning brought with it the worst headache Penelo had ever had in her life. She pulled her blanket over her head and tried to burrow into her pillows to escape the light. The blankets felt different than she was used to, and the pillows were slimmer, and she seemed to have more space than she'd expected.

Realizations filtered down on her slowly, one by one, until they piled into something she could no longer comfortably ignore.

She was not on her cot.

But if she was not on her cot, then where was she?

She decided that the best course of action she had available was of course, to stay as still as possible so as not to upset her stomach, and try to remember what had happened. Her foot ached under the covers and she wondered at how it wasn't healed yet. She remembered casting a few cure spells on it, drinking whisky with Balthier on the _Surya_. Too much whisky, now that she thought about it.

Then they'd walked into the inn. She'd seen Vaan (and that memory alone was nearly enough to send her running for the bathroom again, but she inhaled deeply, tried to think past it) and then she'd gotten more drunk and that was almost all she could remember. Everything else was fuzz with huge gaps in between. She managed to recall that Balthier was sleeping on the couch. That they'd been talking about Larsa for some reason, but beyond that she was at a loss.

She heard Balthier stirring on the couch, heard the stamp of his feet against the ground. "Another thing to the list of things that I will never do again," he was muttering, "Trying to outdrink a heartbroken young woman." His voice was raspy and still bogged with sleep.

"Are you alive?" he asked Penelo, a little more loudly.

"Barely," she managed to croak out.

"Well, let that teach you a lesson," Balthier said. "Not that it's one easily remembered, mind."

"Did anything... did anything happen?" Penelo asked, sitting up slowly.

Balthier tossed the blanket he'd used back onto the bed. "Unfortunately no. You're a damned poor date," he joked as he tried to smooth his collar.

Penelo felt relief course through her as she made a face at him.

"Thank the gods." She collapsed backward onto the bed, trying to smother herself with the pillow. "I'm never drinking whisky again in my life."

"Now that's a lie if ever I heard one," Balthier said, pulling at his sleeves and arranging his vest. "Can't even think how many times I must have told it. Come on," he pulled the covers off her. "Time to get up."

"I'm going to vomit," Penelo said quite seriously.

"Well do it quickly," Balthier said. "We've already spent the night in a room together. Imagine how tongues will wag if we spend all day snuggled up together in bed as well."

That got Penelo up quick. "Oh gods," she said, sliding out of the bed and limping over to the mirror to fix her hair and rinse her face.

"Oh gods indeed," Balthier said. "Your ankle is still sore?"

"I thought I'd healed it."

"Must have been a more serious injury than you'd thought then," Balthier said.

Penelo frowned at the offending ankle. It had swollen up quite nicely overnight. "I shouldn't have been drinking while healing it," she said. "I thought it was just a sprain though..."

Balthier offered her his arm. "Well, there's nothing for it. Your spellstones are all on the _Surya_ are they not?"

"They are," Penelo said, "But I'm fine. I can walk."

Balthier watched her hop to the door, using the wall to steady herself. He shrugged. "If you insist."

#

It seemed that no one was up yet when they exited the room and when Penelo checked the clock she saw that it was only nine. _Good_, she thought, hoping to get back to the _Surya_ before anyone noticed she'd just exited the room with Balthier.

"Shall I walk you back?" he asked, having picked up on the fact that Penelo didn't want to be seen with him at that moment.

"I'll be ok," she said.

Balthier nodded, then seeming to think of something, fished around in his trouser pocket. "Here we go," he said, pulling out a small spellstone and tossing it in Penelo's direction. "Use it for a Float."

The young woman caught it with ease. "Thank you," she said, clutching the stone in her fist. "For everything."

"Twas no trouble," Balthier said, taking a seat at the bar to order his breakfast. "Though an experience I believe we shan't repeat."

"You don't have to tell me twice."

Penelo hobbled out of the inn before casting her Float spell and then drifted over to the _Surya_. Her stomach complained at the movement and the bright light of day dug straight into her skull. She dreamed only of crawling into her cot, pulling her blanket over her head, and going right back to sleep.

When she entered the ship, it was clear that that wasn't going to happen.

Vaan was sitting in the pilot's chair, arms crossed. Penelo thought that she might be able to sneak by him, but even that small hope was dashed when he turned to confront her.

"Where were you last night?" he asked.

"At the inn, same as you," Penelo said.

"I came back here," Vaan said.

Penelo put a hand to her forehead. "Vaan can this wait?"

He shook his head, got up out of his chair and walked toward her, grabbing her arm. "I saw you go off to a room with Balthier."

"And I saw you with Aria on your lap!" Penelo shouted, shaking him off. And everything, the tiredness, the hangover, her hurt ankle, was eclipsed by this pain. "How _could_ you?"

Vaan looked away then. "You scared me, ok? It was stupid. But then you and _Balthier_."

Penelo ignored his accusations. As far as she was concerned he had no right to make them. "I scared you?" she asked. "I _scared _you."

"You said you were done with flying," Vaan said. "I thought... I don't know. But I mean how could _you_—with Balthier. I mean you _know _how I feel about you."

She could have killed him. If she were healthy she really thought she might have been able to. Instead she managed to squeeze out over a boiling rage, "How you feel about me?" she asked. "Are you _serious_? When you're bouncing Aria on your lap and ignoring me you really think you can—" she shook her head, unable to say anything more without screaming.

Vaan looked as though he was trying to explain and failing. He seemed to be thinking much on the way he wanted to present his version of events and Penelo couldn't help but want to smack that look of concentration right off his face.

A memory popped up in her head then, fuzzy from the night before-some advice from Balthier. "What do you _want_?" she asked, realizing that she had no idea and that it was something she really needed to know.

"I don't understand why we can't be like Fran and—and that guy," Vaan said, scratching the back of his head and apparently unwilling to say Balthier's name again. "I mean they don't care if one or the other goes off with somebody else sometimes because it doesn't mean anything, you know? They know how they feel about each other. And I don't want to retire," he said. "Not ever. Or not for as long as possible at least."

Penelo felt her heart sink. There was so much about what he'd said that made her sick. So many things. She focused on the easy ones first.

"So it's ok for you to go off with Aria, but not ok for me to go with Balthier?" she asked, the unfairness of it bothering her more than anything.

"Nothing happened with Aria," Vaan said. "I dropped her off at home and came back here to wait for _you_. But if anything _had_ happened it wouldn't have meant anything, I mean I barely know her, but Balthier is our _friend_, he's our _mentor_, we've known him for _years_—"

"Nothing happened with Balthier either," Penelo explained. "But Vaan..."

She leaned against the side of the airship, her Float spell having worn off minutes ago. Now it was her turn to be unable to put into words what she was thinking. Her turn to mentally stumble over ideas she hadn't expected she would have had to express.

"What do _you_ want?" Vaan asked her finally.

And that was the million gil question, wasn't it?

Before the war, she'd had a loving family. Her mother had been a dancer in her youth and helped Migelo in his shop later in her life. Her father had been a healer, helping hunters with their injuries, sick children, and the elderly. They'd made enough to live comfortably in Rabanastre. They had never been particularly well off, but they were always well fed.

When Penelo remembered her family she remembered light and warmth, always. Her parents had arguments, of course, like all parents did, but they were always quickly resolved with an extra flower, a cake, a well placed poem. She remembered dancing with her mother, practicing at fighting with her brothers, reading with and learning magick from her father.

They were some of the happiest times of her life. And the home they'd had, meant so much to her. She liked to have neighbors, to be part of a community, to know and trust the people living near her.

And when she thought about it, when she really thought about it, she'd never expected sky pirating to be her life. She'd always assumed that once she and Vaan got tired of it or acquired enough gil, they'd settle back into Rabanastre. Not into the house she'd lived in before, which was much too big and too full of old memories now, but some other place. Or maybe even out to one of the towns.

She wanted the life her parents had.

She wanted to live it with Vaan.

But that wasn't the life that he wanted. Not at all.

So there was a critical decision to make. A fundamental problem in the makeup of her world. Could she be happy sky pirating forever with Vaan? With the relationship Balthier and Fran had?

Could she ever truly be happy without him?

Either way she felt like her heart was breaking when she said, finally:

"Gods Vaan, I want you to want what I want."

By the look on his face she knew that that was impossible.

That he was slowly coming to the same conclusion that she had.

#

Neither of them knew what to do after that. They knew that they wanted to stay friends no matter what, but as far as more than that... it was hard to say.

Penelo found that none of her healing spells would work on her ankle and concluded that she bungled it so badly the first time she had no choice but to set it and let it heal normally. To that end they flew to Rabanastre to stay with Migelo.

Vaan settled into doing hunts around Rabanastre and running small errands for Migelo while Penelo helped out at the storefront sometimes, but mostly stayed reclined with her foot up so that it could heal.

They didn't talk about the future—what would happen when Penelo's ankle healed. They didn't talk about their relationship at all.

After a week, Penelo wrote a short letter to Larsa, apologizing for the way that they'd parted, assuring him that she missed him a thousand times, and asking him how he'd been. She told him she'd gotten injured on a hunt and was staying at Migelo's for the time being, and that she hoped for a really really long letter to get her through her recovery.

Larsa obliged enthusiastically and sent her a book as well, for good measure.

When Vaan caught her reading the letter he sort of frowned at her. "How's the emperor kid doing?" Vaan asked.

"Fine," Penelo said. "We missed his sixteenth birthday."

"We weren't exactly in a position to attend," Vaan said.

"I know," Penelo replied. "He just wrote that he missed us, is all."

"Yeah," Vaan said. "I'm sure he really missed _us_."

Penelo didn't bother trying to figure out the meaning of Vaan's tone. Contented herself with picking up his hand and running her thumb across the back of it instead. "Yeah," she said, "Us."

Vaan smiled at her, and flipped her braids playfully.

They would have to make a decision when her ankle had healed, but for now Penelo could consider herself content.

#

When Larsa received word that the Red Lady's ship had gone down in a storm over the Ogir-Yensa Sandsea, his relief was nearly boundless. There was still a concern that nipped at him. Small discrepancies that the Senate could dismiss as the pirates simply being overconfident and stupid as pirates were like to be or perhaps fatigued at the long time they'd spent on the lam, but that Larsa could not quite.

They had been so elusive to that point. Always managing to get away without doing much damage aside from the ship that had crashed while chasing them. For them to so suddenly and so obviously be caught-to then fly toward the Sandsea with no nethicite onboard—seemed like madness.

Basch was right, Larsa knew. It was a thing best not dwelt on.

All reports said that the Feathers had disbanded without their leader and that the skies of Dalmasca and Nabradia were safe once again. The merchants were pleased, the Senate was pleased, and Larsa felt that he could not have asked for much more than that.

Still, his happiness was not complete until he received the letter from Penelo saying that she and Vaan were convalescing in Rabanastre.

He wrote a letter to them straight away, inviting them for a stay in Archades as soon as Penelo had healed, to make up for lost time. He mentioned nothing about the Scarlet Feathers merely expressed how acutely he had felt the absence of her correspondence and a genuine wish for her good health.

For the first time in a long while, he had a smile on his face as he worked through the Empire's taxing system.

#

A month and two weeks later and Penelo's ankle was feeling better, Vaan was getting restless, and they could no longer avoid the subject of their future.

"We should just do what we've been doing for now," Vaan said. "You know, my way for a little bit. And then we'll see how we feel about it. There's no reason to rush anything, right?"

Penelo almost wanted to say that they had been doing it his way for three years now, but she guessed it didn't really matter. She was young still, nineteen going on twenty; there was still time for Vaan to change his mind. Still, she wondered if going along with him would simply prolong the waiting she'd already done for a future that would never come. The storied purgatory of their relationship.

"I need time," Penelo said. "To think about it."

Vaan frowned. "We've been here for over a month."

The irony didn't escape Penelo. "I guess we can see after we visit Archades…" she offered.

"I don't want to go to Archades," Vaan said, crossing his arms.

"But I already told Larsa we'd go," Penelo said, glaring at her partner. "You said it was ok."

"I changed my mind," Vaan said. "Just tell him we're not coming."

Penelo couldn't believe what she was hearing. "No," she said. "He's _expecting_ us, he prepared rooms and everything."

"Then _you_ go," Vaan countered. "I mean if it means so much to you."

"_Vaan_."

"Fran and Balthier said they were going to be in Bhujerba anyway," Vaan said. "They had some information about something going on in Rozarria or something. I can drop you off in Archades and then go to meet them."

"Why don't you just come with me?" Penelo said. "Balthier and Fran can wait a week—it's not like they don't have other things to do."

"Why don't _you_ just come with me?" Vaan asked. "It's not like Larsa's _going_ anywhere."

Neither of them was willing to bend on the subject and so in the end it was decided that Penelo would be going to Archades alone. They'd leave the _Surya_ in Rabanastre and rent a smaller ship to make the trip, so that Vaan could fly it on his own afterward.

As Penelo counted down the days to their eventual departure, she couldn't help but worry what kind of future they could possibly have if they couldn't even agree on something as small as this.

* * *

><p>CHAPTER NINE PREVIEW:<p>

_an archadian sunset  
><em>

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><p>NOTES: So I've had this chapter written for a couple weeks, but there's something about it that bugs me. I've read it and reread it a million times, but I can't quite figure it out so I'm just going to leave it for now. I will probably be changing it somewhat later. The next like five chapters are pretty much going to be Penelo and Larsa in Archades. This story is somehow turning out to be waaaay longer than I thought it was going to be, but it's ok!<p>

THANK YOU: KellyMac - Still hammering stuff out for the next chapter but idk it wasn't as hard as this one, so finals permitting it'll probably be out next Sunday or two Sundays later. Or something. Ariels Lament - I liked Playwright-Strangling!Larsa too. I hope reading about the end of their pirating wasn't exhausting in a bad way... :O! always-kh - Thanks! The next couple chapters aren't too action-y though. They're more hang around the palace and the city doin' stuff-y. Kiinda like this one! :S


	9. nine: sunset in archadia

ON YOUR WINGS

_chapter nine: sunset in archadia  
><em>

* * *

><p><em>With Judge Drace as his mentor, he had learned much about the Archadian Imperial Forces. They were the largest in Ivalice, the best funded, the most imposing. The Judge Magisters were the masters of the military and the Emperor was master of the Magisters.<em>

_This was no small power, Drace had told him, though it could be a dangerous one as well. Larsa had not known, at the time, why she had been so intent to educate him about the military forces of Archadia or the tension that they had with the Senate. Later he saw that she had, in her own way, been trying to prepare him for his eventual ascension. _

_He had asked Drace where the military got its funding and she was able to explain a little about taxes and the way they were collected, but such things were not her specialty. The Judge Magisters were shield and sword to the Empire. They were not traders, not accountants, not politicians. _

_The irony of Drace's instruction was that Larsa came to the throne of Archadia with a wealth of knowledge unfit for a peaceable emperor. His most loyal aides were warriors without a war._

#

Emperor Gramis had not paid much attention to the functioning of the Empire beyond its military ends. Domestic matters had been delegated to a council of advisors, long since executed by Vayne, with their papers burned and only figures retained for record.

The only information that Larsa could turn to, therefore, was in Vayne's papers, which were both detailed and damning. The youngest Solidor could only wonder why his brother had written of his plans and policies in such exacting detail, but he was not one to look a gift chocobo in the beak.

When Larsa had first become the Emperor he had assigned Basch and the 9th to uncover all the changes that Vayne had made since their father's death. The most obvious was the removal of the Senate. Less obvious were tax increases—in some places by as much as ten percent. The farmers in particular were hit hard, having to pay an astonishing fifty percent of their yields in service to the Empire.

Vayne's note on this was simple, but chilling:

_The Empire needs food to survive. It needs a hand upon the till that can neither run nor rebel. Subsistence rates ensure that not only will the farmers be too poor to move, but that they will lack the resources to oppose the Empire should they so wish. I have heard that it is, after all, quite difficult to resist when one's stomach is empty and one's only weapon is a pitchfork. Moreover, taking Old Archades as the example, those of the lower classes are woefully incapable of properly caring for themselves or contemplating the greater good. It is therefore the duty of the sovereign to see that they are allowed to eat, but not to overindulge, and that they perform their proper duties in service to the Empire._

Vayne had also ordered that all tax revenue be transported directly to Archadia and that the Empire's regions be granted allowances as the Emperor saw fit. To ensure that the governors did not underreport their earnings, Vayne had had their families moved into apartments in Archades, a stroke that at once held them hostage and offered them a more luxurious life in the capital so that the kidnapping was slightly less obvious.

The first things Larsa had done then, even before restoring the Senate, were to move the families back to their original homes and reverse all of his brother's tax policy modifications. Vayne had also limited travel much more than Emperor Gramis had, posting guards at every aerodrome and road crossing so that no one could pass without a government issued permit.

Mages had been taken into custody in the farmlands, oilfields, and mines, which Vayne had identified as "critical" regions. The cities nearest Archades were spared tax increases and any kind of undue military presence as Vayne had written "_It is not wise to sow discontent so near to one's own home_." Besides many of the merchant class got rich through the sale of weapons to the Archadian military, as did the weapons producers in the Northeast.

Larsa lightened the travel restrictions significantly, pardoned all those that Vayne had unjustly imprisoned and had them paid a small sum as apology. The first two weeks of his reign were marked by his studious and careful erasure of anything written in his brother's hand.

The Senate was restored after Larsa had reversed what he felt was the bulk of the damage. Being the most senior of the group, Senator Penicot was elevated to Chairman to replace Gregoroth and Larsa and the Senators had agreed on the appointment of Senator Mendelen to take Penicot's seat.

Archadia thus restored to what it had been when Gramis ruled, Larsa turned his attention to _improving_ her situation. Even Gramis's policies were warmongering and Larsa had had to dispatch the 9th to determine things that the young Lord was almost embarrassed to not have known, such as the cost of bread and housing. Vayne had left him the average yields of each province, some in terms of what they produced, like wheat or oil, and some in terms of gil.

Gramis's thirty-five percent tax rate sounded high to Larsa in terms of the information he'd received and he had had to war with the Senate over every percentage point until it was finally reduced to a still-high twenty-eight. Governors were allowed to retain forty percent for the running of their province and ten percent as their annual salary. Fifty percent of the collection would return to Archades. The Senators staunchly battled any tax increase on the merchant class and scoffed at the scale that Larsa had invented, where peasants would pay a lower percentage of income and nobility would pay a higher one.

The issue of tax reform hung like a millstone around his neck. It constantly needed addressing and yet could not be properly addressed. Now that the Scarlet Feathers had disappeared, it once again became his dreary focus. Not only had it returned to the forefront of his attentions, but it seemed to have grown more weighty in the process.

He looked over the documents that Basch had given him and did his best to suppress a heavy sigh. "So you believe that the governors are collecting taxes at a rate five percent over what they are reporting."

"As much as five percent," Basch corrected. "It is not so uniform. Some have been so bold as to skimp as much as seven, some careful enough to take only an extra two."

"And further you believe that these governors are bribing certain members of the Senate for their silence," Larsa continued.

"We cannot yet prove it, Lord Larsa," Basch said. "However that is our suspicion."

"You may well never be able to prove it," Larsa said, setting the papers down and folding his hands over them. "Many members of the Senate had perfected their involvement in such activities before even _you_ were born."

Basch smirked at the statement. Half a smile for half a joke. "How shall we proceed?"

"We shall dispatch accountants," Larsa said, "To all the governorships that you suspect of fraud along with Judges to ensure that they are given appropriate access to the records they require and to safeguard the fidelity of their reports. I will wait to determine a path until I have complete information."

"It will be done, Lord Larsa," Basch said with a light bow.

"Gabranth," Larsa said, ever cautious about using the man's real name. "I could live a hundred lifetimes and never be able to thank you enough for your help and for your friendship."

"It is a lucky thing, then, that duty expects no thanks," Basch said with a warm nod.

"I cannot say that there are not ways in which I have certainly been blessed," Larsa replied. "Have you other business to attend to?"

"Personal matters," Basch replied. "Nothing of consequence."

Larsa nodded. "You may leave if you wish. Thank you."

Basch bowed again and then exited the room.

Left alone, Larsa bundled up the documents Basch had given him about the possible embezzlement and locked them in his drawer. Penelo's most recent letter sat on the desk alone then, and he ran a gloved finger over the lines.

_Sorry, _he read_, Vaan has something to take care of in Bhujerba so I'll be coming to visit you by myself, if that's all right_.

Of course it was all right. As a matter of fact it was more than all right, though he didn't write so much to her. He enjoyed Vaan's company as well, but he could not deny that it would be pleasant to spend time with Penelo alone.

#

Archades loomed in their view, a broad field of towers pushing up to the sky, with the Imperial Palace standing tall over everything.

The city never failed to make Penelo's eyes go wide at just the sight of it. Tiny dots zipped back and forth, the sky cars running nobles around the place. Before she had seen it the first time she'd never in her life imagined that any building could go up so high.

"You can still come," Penelo said. "Larsa said he would keep the room open in case you changed your mind."

"I already said I don't want to go."

"I'll miss you," Penelo admitted softly.

"I hope so."

They pulled into the aerodrome and Penelo checked and double checked that she had everything she needed in her bag. She wanted to ask Vaan to stay with her again, but she knew that by then it would only annoy him. If she was going to be honest with herself, she had to admit that she was nervous about seeing Larsa again on her own. She'd been dumb, she knew, to think that a kid could stay a kid _and_ be the ruler of the largest empire on the continent at the same time, but it had still surprised her that he could be such a politician.

In his letters he was the same as he had always been, so that was some comfort. Yet she had never stayed a night in Archades on her own much less a week. She really wanted Vaan to stay with her, but he was immovable as a mountain.

"Come out and say 'Hi' at least," she said, gathering up her things and heading toward the aircraft's exit.

"Course," Vaan said, meeting her at the door.

Before she opened it to go out, she turned and kissed him on the cheek. "Don't get into too much trouble without me ok?"

Vaan grinned at her. "Same to you."

Penelo smiled back at him, apprehension fluttering her stomach as she pushed open the door.

Larsa was standing outside ready to help her down. She took his arm as she stepped out of the aircraft and Vaan stepped out behind her.

"So good to see both of you well," Larsa said, releasing Penelo's arm in order to greet them both. "It has been quite some time. Please, allow Bellamy to take your bag."

Penelo handed her bag to the butler hesitantly. "Thank you, Mr. Bellamy," she said.

"Yeah," Vaan said, hugging the younger boy awkwardly. "Sorry I can't stay. Hey, Bells."

"It's all right," Larsa said, arching an eyebrow at 'Bells'. "Penelo wrote me saying that you had urgent business in Bhujerba. I am glad that you were able to find the time to say hello."

"Yeah, pretty urgent stuff," Vaan said, nodding at Larsa. "Well you guys have fun; I gotta get going."

He tugged on one of Penelo's braids to say goodbye and she glared at him playfully. "See you later," she said.

Vaan rushed back into the rented airship and Larsa reclaimed Penelo's arm.

"Shall we?"

#

When they entered the palace, Larsa introduced Penelo to Augusta, the chamberlain.

"Should you have need of anything, your inquiries would be best directed to either Augusta or Bellamy," Larsa said. "Augusta, if you will please show Penelo to her room?"

"Yes, Your Excellency," the Chamberlain said, bowing low.

"I will see you once you have settled in," Larsa said, nodding to Penelo. He turned and walked off then, followed by Basch. Bellamy had gone off somewhere earlier and so Penelo was left alone with Augusta, a rather serious looking woman with gray brown hair. She wore a long, gray dress that was the same color as Bellamy's suit, sensible black shoes, and a white cap atop her head.

"Come on then, Miss," she said, leading Penelo down a long hallway. "You'll be taking one of the spare rooms in Lord Larsa's personal quarters."

"Quarters?" Penelo asked.

"Yes, Miss," Augusta said. "The emperor's personal quarters consist of the 71st through 75th floors. You will occupy one of the rooms on the 73rd."

"The 75th floor is where Larsa study is, isn't it?" Penelo asked.

"Study, personal library, garden, and office," Augusta replied. "Lord Larsa sleeps on the 74th floor. His personal drawing room and dining room are on the 71st—it is where you will likely be taking meals. Lord Larsa's personal staff resides on the 70th floor, but it is unlikely you will ever have to stop there."

Penelo had only really been to two areas in the palace before, the ballrooms and adjacent gardens, both on what she thought was the 51st floor, and Larsa's personal study all the way up on the 75th. Everything in between and below was a complete mystery to her.

"So… what are the other rooms?" she asked, once they reached the elevator. "On the 73rd floor?"

Augusta put a key to the podium to call the elevator down.

"Previously the 73rd and 72nd floors were meant to house the Emperor's sons and their attendants," Augusta replied as she hit the button for the 73rd floor. "There is a sparring room on the 72nd floor as well as a music room and small library."

"There is no 70th floor on this panel," Penelo pointed.

"Servants' quarters are only reachable by servants' elevators," Augusta said.

"Well, try not to make fun of me when I get lost and end up there anyway," Penelo joked. "This place is so big—I'll probably be so confused I'll just fall right through the floor."

"I'm sure Lord Larsa will arrange for you to have a tour," Augusta said with a small smile. "If not, you must only remember floor 73, floor 71, and floor 50."

"73 is where I sleep, 71 is where I eat, and 50 is where the entrance is," Penelo said, repeating what she'd just been told.

"Precisely, Miss," Augusta said. "There should also be a phone in your room so that you will be able to contact any member of the staff that you wish. I can answer all your questions about the household, Bellamy can handle all questions about Lord Larsa, and Yzak is who you will want to call to order a car."

"The Judge Magisters live here as well, don't they?" Penelo asked.

"They have apartments here in which they reside when they have business in Archades," Augusta replied. "They occupy the 68th and 69th floors."

The elevator stopped and Augusta bowed her head so that Penelo could exit it first. Penelo did so, and Augusta pressed a few buttons, apparently locking the elevator again before setting off down another carpeted hall. They stopped in front of a set of immense double doors that Augusta unlocked and pushed open and then held for her.

Penelo entered the room slowly. It was enormous, and bright with a window that took up a whole wall and a small balcony just outside it. There were heavy green curtains drawn to the sides of the window and held fast with gold rope. The room was bright with the afternoon sun, and she could see a rather large gilted bed with and white and gold bedspread. There was a curtain that could be pulled around that as well that was the same emerald green as the ones at the window, though of a lighter material. The walls were painted with each panel alternately a pale green or white with gold framing around each.

The floor was a beautiful mahogany covered with an immense patterned rug that was the same pale green as the walls and had a design that incorporated gold, blue, and pale red into. The edges were defined with gold thread.

Aside from the bed there was a bedside table next to the bed that housed a patterned white lamp and a drawer, a small bookshelf next to a small desk with a chair to match, a bureau on which sat a large mirror, and a sofa that was the same emerald green and gold as the curtains. At one end of the room was a round, glass table with two chairs next to it that were gold edged and the same color as the walls. A chandelier hung down from the ceiling that was large enough to illuminate the room when night fell and there were two smaller doors leading out of the room.

"This goes to the bathroom," Augusta said opening one door. And Penelo marveled at the largeness of the bath and the way that the porcelain sparkled. Even here things were gold—the rods on which to hang towels, the knobs for the sink and the faucet itself were edged with the stuff as well. "This is your closet," Augusta said, opening the other door.

"You will, of course, be assigned a lady-in-waiting by the morning, so you won't have to worry about what to wear."

"Oh," Penelo said, shaking her head. "I don't need anything like that. I mean I can dress myself, it's totally fine."

Augusta gave her a look then that Penelo dared not challenge. "It is _customary_, Miss," she said. "For the time being you will find your bag inside the bureau. Bellamy would have unpacked it; however he was not sure if that would have been appropriate…"

"I'm glad he didn't," Penelo said. "You guys are doing so much for me already."

"The phone I mentioned is next to the desk," Augusta said, "You will find a list of numbers in the desk drawer."

"Thank you," Penelo said, still a little stunned at the size of the room. She hadn't expected Larsa to put her somewhere _this_ nice.

"Do you require anything else?" Augusta asked.

"No," Penelo said, "I'm fine, you can go if you have to."

"Milady," Augusta replied, curtsying deeply. "Remember if you have need of anything you have only to call. Lord Larsa has said he will meet you in his study when you are finished settling in." Augusta handed Penelo a key ring then and said, "This will unlock the elevator for these floors, the other will unlock this room. Lord Larsa's study is on the—"

"75th floor," Penelo finished, "Right at the top."

"Yes, Miss," Augusta smiled. She curtseyed again. "Have a wonderful evening."

Then she left, shutting the doors quietly behind her.

Left alone, Penelo was at a loss for what to do next. Everything looked so nice she was afraid to even touch any of it. _I guess I'll have a bath_, she thought, grabbing her bag from the bureau. First thing _was_ first after all.

_Vaan's gonna be sor-ry he didn't come_.

#

When she was clean and dressed, Penelo retraced the path back to the elevator and used the key that Augusta had told her too. _So far so good_, she thought, as she hit the button for the 75th floor.

As she stepped out of the elevator, though, she realized she actually had no idea which way Larsa's study was from where she stood. It was lucky for her then that after just a few minutes, Basch came walking down the hall. "Penelo," he said. "It is good to see you."

"B-Gabranth!" she exclaimed, almost slipping over his name as she rushed up to hug him. "I didn't see you at the aerodrome."

"I have just returned from some business," he said, hugging her back. "Are you looking for Lord Larsa's study?"

"Yes," Penelo said, thankful that she'd run into a familiar face.

"I've just come from there," Basch said. "I shall walk you back."

"You're not going to hang out with us?" Penelo asked, forehead wrinkling. Basch was usually with Larsa which meant that he was usually always around when Penelo and Vaan visited.

"I am afraid that I have duties I must attend to this evening," Basch said, as he led her toward Larsa's study.

He opened the door into the room, then led her through it out onto the balcony. "Lord Larsa," Basch said, "I have found Penelo."

Larsa rose immediately from his seat and set down a slip of paper he'd been looking over. "Thank you, Gabranth."

Basch nodded, "Good evening."

"Bye," Penelo said, realizing that he was walking away.

As Basch left, Penelo went over to hug Larsa and noticed that he was nearly a foot taller than she was. Something she hadn't really paid attention to at the aerodrome, since she'd been too focused on Vaan leaving. "Hey," she said, arms around him as she tiptoed up to try to look him in the eye. "Who told you you could get so tall?"

"I'm the Emperor," Larsa joked, "No one would dare tell me that I could not."

There was a mischievous glint in his eye that seemed a little unnatural to Penelo. She smiled at him, but pulled back from the hug and looked around her.

The balcony outside Larsa's study was truly beautiful. A small table and two chairs had been moved out onto it, apparently so that Penelo and Larsa could enjoy a meal as well as the view. The flowers that were kept there were blooming and they made the air smell sweet. Water fell from the roof into the small reflecting pool near the table and beyond that stretched an incredible view of the city.

The sun was about to set over the skyscrapers and the vista was incredible. It was clear that they were occupying the highest point in the city as somehow that was just a little bit exhilarating.

"I hope you don't mind," Larsa said, "I thought we might take our dinner here to better enjoy the view."

He pulled out a chair for Penelo and she sat in it, allowing him to push in the seat gently before taking his own. "You're the Emperor," Penelo said, "Shouldn't I be pulling out _your_ chair?"

"An Emperor must also be a gentleman," Larsa replied, smiling.

"Gentleman," Penelo laughed, "Now _that's_ a word I haven't heard in a while."

The door to the study opened again and a small army of servants entered, carrying two plates and utensils. Penelo recognized Bellamy with them, holding a bottle of red wine and two glasses.

Two servants set down two sets of utensils, one next to Penelo and one next to Larsa while Bellamy set their wine glasses. Another pair of servants then set plates covered plates down in front of them. Still more servants put down water glasses while another filled them both from a glass pitcher, which he then set atop a folded napkin. Bellamy uncorked the wine and poured some for Larsa to taste, which he did before nodding at the butler.

Bellamy filled both glasses and another pair of servants spread napkins over Larsa and Penelo's laps. It all happened so quickly that Penelo was having trouble figuring out who was doing what or who to thank, so she kept silent and watched them work. Two of the servants removed the cover from their plates with a flourish.

"Herb roasted lamb with a red wine sauce," Bellamy announced, "And a small salad of lettuce from our gardens with pear and walnut." He bowed. "Enjoy, Your Excellency."

"Thank you Bellamy," Larsa said. "You are dismissed."

As quickly as they'd come, the servants filed out of the room, leaving Penelo, Larsa, their food, and the sunset.

"I hope it is all right," Larsa was saying, "I'd asked for dinner to be a little simpler than usual so that we could be served so far from the kit—"

"_Larsa_," Penelo interrupted. "This is probably going to be the best food I've had since the last time I came to see you, and even if it wasn't it's not like I came here just to _eat_."

"O-of course," Larsa replied, smiling at her. "Shall we?"

In that moment, Penelo recognized the young boy that she'd known so well, confident though a little unsure of himself around his new friends. He'd certainly grown and he looked a little different. He'd lost the baby fat in his cheeks, his face lengthened some, his jaw was a little better defined, and his eyebrows had been allowed to thicken, but he was still the same Larsa that she'd always known, whatever else might have happened between them.

"Let's," she said, grinning eagerly as she cut into her lamb.

#

After dinner, Larsa walked her back to her room. "I do hope you will join me for breakfast tomorrow?"

"Sure," Penelo said brightly.

"I will see you in the morning, then," Larsa replied, and he bowed to kiss her hand in farewell.

She felt a light blush rise in her cheeks at the brush of his lips against the back of her hand. Penelo was struck again with the slow-burning realization that Larsa was growing up. Not just politically, but into an adult. She wondered for a moment at the appropriateness of some of the ways she interacted with him, whether it was still ok for her to shower him with small kisses when she said goodbye to him or for her to ruffle his hair. She wondered whether she could still treat him like Kytes or Filo anymore, where she was careless and abundant in her affection. If she should instead be as thoughtful about his personal space as she was with Balthier or Basch.

"See you," Penelo said, deciding to figure it out later.

Larsa opened her doors for her and Penelo was surprised to see a maid in her room already. The curtains had been drawn for the evening and the maid was standing ready, though for what Penelo couldn't guess.

Larsa bowed once more before leaving Penelo and the maid in the room alone together.

"Um," Penelo said, "Hi?"

"Good evening, Lady Penelo," the maid said, curtsying. "My name is Trish and I shall be your lady-in-waiting for the duration of your stay."

"Oh," Penelo said, "I'm not a—" she stopped short, having been about to say that she was not a lady. That didn't exactly sound correct to her though, so instead she said, "Just call me Penelo, please, none of that 'Lady' stuff."

"A-all right, Miss Penelo," the girl stammered. Penelo guessed that the maid couldn't be much younger than she was. She had mouse-brown hair tied up in a bun behind her head and wore a uniform similar to the one that the Chamberlain had worn.

"No problem, Miss Trish," Penelo replied. She despaired of getting anyone in the palace to call her by her first name only, but she figured she could at least Miss and Mister them right back.

Trish's eyes widened. "Milady—"

"Ah ah," Penelo said, wagging a finger at her. "None of that, seriously. Now what are you here for, exactly? Not that I mind you being here—I'm just curious."

"To help you dress for bed, Miss Penelo," Trish replied. "I have laid out a nightgown for you atop your bed."

Penelo's forehead scrunched. "Nightgown?" she asked.

"Lord Larsa's personal tailor, Mister Christensen approximated your measurements when he saw you at the ball celebrating Lord Larsa's birthday," Trish replied. "He will be here in the morning to see if he needs to make any alterations, though he has assured His Excellency that he has a very gifted eye."

Penelo regarded the nightgown on her bed with suspicion. She didn't recall having met a Mister Christensen and wondered how such a man could know what would fit her and what wouldn't.

"I can get ready for bed by myself," she told Trish. "It's fine."

"At least allow me to draw your bedcurtains for you, Miss," Trish said. "It is my duty after all."

Penelo shrugged at the other girl. "I guess if it's not too much trouble…" She picked up the nightgown and went into the bathroom to change into it. She deposited the clothes she'd been wearing in the small laundry bin that held only the underwear she'd changed earlier and pulled the nightgown over her head.

To her great surprise, it fit quite well and Penelo regarded herself in the mirror curiously before releasing her hair from the braids she wore. She set the hair pieces on the sink, before running a brush through her hair quickly and exiting the bathroom.

Trish had already closed the curtains on three sides of the bed and stood ready, waiting for Penelo to lie down so that she could close the fourth.

"Thank you," Penelo said, feeling a little awkward as she slid into bed, pulling the covers over herself.

"It is no trouble, Miss," Trish said, "Goodnight."

Trish untied the cords holding the last curtains back and they closed over the bed, putting Penelo into a kind of shadow. She heard Trish moving around still, and she peeked through the curtain to see what the maid was doing. Penelo saw her move her hair pieces to the bureau and then go back into the bathroom to retrieve Penelo's laundry. The blonde girl lay back in her bed as Trish shut off the light in the room and bowed out the door.

It was really strange, the way that royalty lived, she thought. She was no more high born or rich than any of the servants running around the castle and the only reason she even knew Larsa was through some bizarre twist of fate. While the pampering was a little nice as was the food and the hot water in the shower, she couldn't help but feel like the room itself was so big that she could drown in it.

When Larsa had asked her how she liked her quarters, she'd told him nothing more than that they were beautiful and _huge_ and he'd told her that they had once belonged to him. Lying in the bed that was much too big for her, she couldn't imagine how a child could possibly _not_ feel as though he was about to be swallowed up.

* * *

><p>CHAPTER TEN PREVIEW:<p>

_Three to tea_

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><p>NOTES: This is another chapter that might see small changes in the future. Next chapter just needs some tweaking and should be out fairly quickly. It's more Penelo running around Larsa's house :)<p>

**THANK YOU!**

_always-kh_: Thanks! I was really worried about that chapter-mainly the Balthier part. I'm glad you thought it worked out though!

_Ariels Lament: _I hope you had fun on your cruise! I just got back from a trip to Vegas where I spent all my money celebrating graduation :S I'm really relieved that you like my Balthier. I always kind of worry about writing him. I don't know why; it's just a thing.

_Marta: _Thanks for liking this story so much! I was busy graduating and being on vacation, but the next few chapters should be posted with kind of the same regularity there was before :)

_ZoraAngel: _Your review was really nice! Characterization is something I worry about a lot. When I'm writing this I usually go and rewatch cutscenes to try to get things right. I hope you'll keep me on track if I start to mess up though :S


	10. ten: three to tea

ON YOUR WINGS

_chapter ten: three to tea_

* * *

><p>Penelo jolted awake to the sound of her door opening. She could hear people bustling into the room and was a little bit startled. Usually she was the first to wake up, rising slowly on her own. She was a lighter sleeper than Vaan was, more keenly aware of the noises in her environment, more able to separate which were regular and which didn't quite fit. The door to her room opening was definitely an irregular sound and it sent her heart crashing halfway out of her chest before she remembered where she was.<p>

"Good morning, Miss Penelo," Trish said, pulling back the curtains on the side of the bed facing the door. Another pair of maids opened the heavier curtains at the window, letting the sunlight in.

Penelo blinked and sat up, a little confused at the commotion around her. Trish set a cup of tea on a saucer next to Penelo's bed. "I will draw your bath, Miss," Trish said, curtsying before disappearing into the bathroom.

The two maids at the window left the room, shutting the door behind them so that Penelo was left to sip her tea and listen to the water running in the bathroom. She had never been woken up by three people before. Well, at least not so politely. There had been that once where Kytes, Filo, and Vaan had thought it would be really funny to throw a bucket of water over her. The three of them had paid for that dearly.

The sound of running water stopped, and Trish reappeared to pull back the rest of Penelo's bedcurtains. "Your bath is ready, Miss."

"Thank you," Penelo said, setting her tea down and getting out of bed.

After her bath, Penelo wrapped herself in a towel. She had forgotten to bring clothes in with her and was a little embarrassed as she stepped back into her room. Trish was standing next to her impeccably made bed on which an outfit rested, complete with underwear.

"I am to help you dress as well, Miss Penelo," Trish said.

Penelo blushed furiously. "Um, that's ok," she said, "Really I'd prefer to do it on my own."

Trish seemed to consider this for a moment. "I will turn to give you some privacy, then," she said before going to look out the window.

Penelo slipped into the clothes that had been laid out on the bed. The dress that was waiting for her had a high, soft collar and no sleeves. It was a light blue trimmed with white that had a darker blue and silver bow sewn around it. Penelo had a little trouble tying in the back and so found herself saying, "Um, Trish, could you help me fix this?"

Trish came around at once and tied the bow behind Penelo's back tightly. "Thank you," Penelo said.

"It is no trouble," Trish said, "Now for your hair…"

She led Penelo over to the dressing table and sat her down on the chair in front of it. She brushed Penelo's hair gently before parting it and braiding it into two loose braids, which she then fastened with pale blue hair ties that had white and gold feathers attached to them as decorations. Penelo marveled at the accessories. "Where did these come from?" she asked.

"Lord Larsa had them ordered," Trish said, "Along with the clothes."

Penelo wondered what kind of stuff Larsa had gotten ready for Vaan. She allowed herself to imagine ridiculous looking golden vests as Trish finished with her hair.

"Let us see how the sandals fit," Trish said, smiling at Penelo. She picked up a pair of shoes next to the dressing table that Penelo had not noticed before and knelt to slip them onto her feet.

"Oh," Penelo said, "I can do that," and as she bent to fit the shoe onto her foot, she nearly knocked heads with Trish. "Sorry," she said.

"It is no problem, Miss," Trish said, standing to allow Penelo to slip her foot into the sandals which were a slightly darker blue than her dress.

To her surprise they fit, just as everything else had. They were comfortable, not too narrow or long, or short, and they were soft under her feet. They had a heel that rose about two inches off the ground, and pretty blue and silver bows at the front that matched the bow on the back of Penelo's dress.

"One more thing," Trish said, and she retrieved a turquoise bracelet from the drawer, which she fastened around Penelo's wrist. "There."

Penelo lifted her hand to examine the bracelet. It was pretty, but not something she would wear normally. Usually she would be afraid of it getting caught on one of the airship controls or throwing off her aim with a bow and arrow.

"You look lovely," Trish said. That at least was something she knew how to respond to.

"Thanks, so do you," she said. And she meant it. She really did think Trish was quite pretty.

Trish blushed. "I—thank you, Miss," she said, fixing the cap in her hair. "If you are ready, we should head downstairs to meet Lord Larsa."

Penelo nodded. "Ok," she said.

"He will be in his morning meeting with noble petitioners," Trish said, "After breakfast he will be attending to business and unavailable until tea at three in the afternoon, we will have lunch prepared for you in Lord Larsa's private dining room at twelve o' clock and you and I will tour the palace in the meantime, if that sounds well to you."

"Yeah," Penelo said, not used to having her day planned out so well. "Sure. Sounds great."

"Lord Larsa will be available to dine with you in the evening and there is a ballet premiering tonight that His Excellency wishes you to attend with him."

Penelo had never seen a ballet before, though she had always been curious about the dance ever since Larsa told her that the dancers stood on the very tips of her toes. It was something that Penelo imagined would be quite difficult and hurt a great deal, though Larsa assured her that the performers had a special kind of shoe that allowed them to do so. She was excited to see for herself.

"That sounds great," Penelo said. "Thank you, Miss Trish."

Trish smiled. "Let us head downstairs."

#

As Penelo and Trish stepped out of the elevator on the 71st floor, they were passed by a group of noblemen walking down the hallway. A few of them gave Penelo curious looks, but they mostly ignored her as they headed off to what Penelo supposed would be a different elevator. They turned a hallway and passed out of view. "Lord Larsa's meeting is likely finished," Trish said.

Just as the words left her mouth, Larsa appeared in the hallway with Bellamy trailing behind him. He walked up to Penelo and bowed slightly in front of her. Penelo wasn't sure what to do when he did that and so she did what everyone else seemed to do and curtseyed in response. "Good morning," Larsa said. "You look lovely."

"Well someone got me a whole outfit," Penelo said, looking down at her clothes. "And of course Miss Trish helped me get dressed."

Larsa's eyebrow curved just slightly at the mention of "Miss Trish," who curtseyed deeply and appeared to be trying to hide her face. "I see," he said. "Best compliments to 'Miss Trish' as well, then."

Penelo saw Trish's face redden and got the distinct impression that Larsa was teasing the girl. Before Penelo could think too much about it, Larsa took her arm and smiled at her. "I will escort Lady Penelo to breakfast," he said to Trish. "You may meet her here afterward."

"Yes, Your Excellency," Trish said, curtsying again and backing into the elevator.

"What's with this 'Lady' stuff?" Penelo asked as Larsa walked her down the hall.

"A mere formality," Larsa said, "All the young women of my acquaintance should be referred to as ladies."

"Should they?" Penelo teased. "Should I only refer to you as 'Lord Larsa' too?"

"In the company of others," Larsa said, "If you remember."

They stopped in front of a door and Bellamy opened it for them, allowing them in. The dining room was as brightly lit as Penelo's bedroom had been, with long windows along the wall. The wall behind the head of the table had an area in the center that protruded a little from the sides, with a recessed top forming a kind of shelf on which a small white vase rested on either side of and over which hung a large mirror. There were tables set in the corners of the room atop which sat elegant vases filled with elaborate flower arrangements. A wooden dining table with seats for eight occupied the center of the room. The chairs around it were chestnut with blue velvet cushions and the one at the head of the table was a little larger than the others, with a rising, ornate back and gilt gold framework.

Larsa pulled the seat to the right of this one back, so that Penelo could sit. Once she was settled in, Bellamy pulled back Larsa's chair so that he could take a seat. Bellamy then went to a door at the back of the dining room and held it open while a pair of servants entered carrying what Penelo presumed was breakfast.

The plates were set in front of Penelo and Larsa before the servants bowed and exited the room. Bellamy remained, standing perfectly still with his back to the door that the servants had disappeared back into.

"Did you sleep well?" Larsa asked, cutting into his ham.

"Yes," Penelo said, "Very."

She didn't think it would add anything to the conversation for her to mention how uncomfortable she'd actually felt with how big and expensive everything around her was. It was all very nice in any case and nothing she could seriously complain about; it was just that none of it quite sat well with her. But then again, what was Larsa going to do? Put her in the servants' quarters after everyone had been running around the palace calling her "Lady" for a whole day?

"That is good to hear."

"What about you?"

"The same," Larsa smiled.

Their conversation slowed as they finished their breakfast. Penelo found that she was quite comfortable sitting in silence with Larsa and the view of the city outside was almost as beautiful from her seat as it had been from her room.

As they finished up, Larsa said, "Did Trish tell you my schedule for the day?"

"Yes," Penelo said. "You sound really busy."

"I am sorry that I will be unable to spend more time with you," Larsa said.

"Oh no, I wouldn't want to take you away from your work," Penelo replied, "Besides me and Trish are going to explore the palace, apparently. Which is good because I can only remember what's on four of the floors…"

Larsa's lips curved into a smile as he said, "I'm sure that will occupy most of the day. The palace is rather large."

"No kidding," Penelo said. A thought occurred to her just then and she asked, "Hey, where is Gabranth?"

"He is taking care of small issue for me in some of the other cities," Larsa said. "He should return in two days' time."

"Oh," Penelo said. "I see."

Everyone seemed to be busy and Penelo couldn't help but feel a little like she was intruding on Larsa's perfectly run life and household. She missed Vaan and thought that if he at least was there with her then Larsa wouldn't feel as obligated to find things for her to do.

"I hope you are not disappointed in your visit so far," Larsa said, face falling just a bit.

"I'm not," Penelo said, realizing that she'd allowed what she felt about Vaan not being there show on her face. "I'm having a wonderful time, really," she smiled broadly to reassure him.

"I am glad to hear it."

#

After breakfast, Larsa went off to his meetings with Bellamy following behind. Trish met Penelo outside the dining room. "Are you ready for the tour, Miss?" she asked.

"Yeah," Penelo said, grinning. "Where are we going to start?"

"Perhaps from the 54th floor?" Trish asked as they headed to the elevator. "Mostly everything above that is offices and guest apartments."

"Sounds good," Penelo replied.

She and Trish walked through a bunch of well decorated, large, and ornate galleries and libraries and drawing rooms. There seemed to be a floor with servants' quarters on it every fifth floor that they skipped seeing. There was an indoor garden on the 52nd floor that Penelo thought was particularly interesting, it was like a greenhouse where they grew certain vegetables. Penelo had pressed her face to the glass to watch the gardeners work and wondered how such a thing could function inside.

"The gardeners are very talented," Trish had said as they moved on.

The 51st floor was somewhat familiar to Penelo. She recognized the main dining hall for state dinners, the ballroom, and the garden. She hadn't realized that across the garden there was a pool for recreation.

"The ceiling is quite high in the throne room on the fiftieth floor," Trish said, "But there are a few lower-ceilinged receiving rooms beneath the pool."

The fiftieth floor held the throne room as well as a drawing room called the "East Room," a library, a music room, and a gallery. There were portraits hanging in the gallery of the Solidor family. Penelo recognized Larsa and Vayne, but not the others. "Who is this?" Penelo asked, pointing to a portrait to the left of Vayne's.

"The late Rhyn Solidor," Trish answered. "And to his left, Gramis the second. Lord Larsa's elder brothers."

Penelo remembered Larsa writing that he had never met them—that they had died the year he was born. Above those portraits hung ones of Emperor Gramis and a woman that Penelo assumed was Larsa's mother.

"Empress Lynea," Trish said, as though anticipating Penelo's next question. "She was a great beauty in her time."

That much was clear to Penelo. The woman looked like a dark haired angel with full cheeks, flawless skin, a fine nose, and wide eyes.

"They say that Lord Larsa has his father's eyes, his mother's nose, his grandfather's soft jaw, Vayne's cleverness, and Rhyn's heart," Trish said.

Penelo studied the portraits. The one in the first most resembled the emperor. The one in the second most resembled the empress with her wide eyes and softer features even than Larsa's. "I thought the two older brothers were traitors," Penelo said.

"Oh they were executed as such," Trish replied. "The details have been lost to us; however the story that I was told was that Gramis the second was one plotting against his father and the Senate. He had taken Rhyn into his confidence and Rhyn decided to try to dissuade Gramis from his plot before telling the Senate about it as he expected punishment would be severe. Unfortunately this meant he was considered an accomplice."

Larsa hadn't said much about it to Penelo and she hadn't asked after the particulars. It seemed after all that he barely knew them and that in any case it was something of a sore subject. "So they were both killed because of one's crimes?"

"Lord Vayne was the one who had to carry out the sentence," Trish said. "It broke the Empress's heart. They say that is why she did not survive Lord Larsa's birth. She was too sad at the prospect of living to see another son sent off to the slaughter. Emperor Gramis was also the only of his brothers to survive past the age of thirty."

Penelo frowned at the portraits. She didn't think she'd ever seen such a sad wall. "Let's go," she said.

As Trish and Penelo crossed the main entrance, Penelo noticed a well-dressed girl standing there speaking to one of the butlers at the entrance to the palace while her lady-in-waiting stood a little behind her. "Who is that?" she asked.

"Lady Margarethe," Trish said. "She is a friend of Lord Larsa's."

"—was just wondering if Lord Larsa would be available for tea today," Penelo overheard the girl say.

Lady Margarethe looked about Larsa's age. She wore a long pink and white dress with a square cut front and scalloped sleeves. It appeared to be of some sort of light material in two layers, one comprising the sleeves and the sides of the dress, and a white skirt under it. She wore long white gloves that reached up to her elbows and were patterned with gold thread. She was really beautiful too, a few inches taller than Penelo, with large brown eyes, silken black hair that was artfully arranged, clear pale skin, and full lips.

_Larsa's friend, huh? _Penelo thought as an idea suddenly occurred to her.

The butler at the door was telling Lady Margarethe that Larsa was otherwise engaged for tea, and the girl was about to walk away when Penelo walked purposefully up to her and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Hi," Penelo said.

The other girl jumped in surprise and whirled around to face Penelo. Her eyes widened in recognition as she said, "L-lady Penelo?"

Penelo wasn't sure how the other girl knew her name as she was pretty sure she had never met her before, but she decided it wasn't really important. Archadians were so good at finding out information, even Larsa had known her name before she'd introduced herself to him. "Just Penelo is fine," she said automatically. "You're Lady Margarethe right? Larsa's friend."

"Y-yes," Lady Margarethe said and Penelo felt a little bad for startling the girl.

Penelo opened her mouth, about to say something, but instead held up a finger and squinted at Magarethe. "Hold that thought," she said, turning toward Trish and whispering. "Do you think Larsa will mind if Lady Margarethe has tea with us?"

"I-I'm not sure," Trish said, and Penelo got the distinct feeling that she was startling everyone.

"Do you think you can find out?" she asked.

Trish nodded. "I will be back shortly," she said, curtsying and hurrying away.

"I apologize, Lady Penelo," Margarethe was saying, "I did not mean to intrude and I can very easily be on my way."

"Nonsense," Penelo was saying. "I've just asked Miss Trish to go see if Larsa will be all right with having you to tea with us," she grinned. "I was supposed to have a friend here anyway so I don't think he would mind—"

Lady Margarethe looked absolutely stunned at what Penelo had said and Penelo was about to apologize though she didn't quite know what for when Trish returned. She curtsied at Margarethe and said, "Lord Larsa says that he would be honored to have you join him and Lady Penelo for tea."

"Oh," Lady Margarethe said, "I couldn't."

Penelo tilted her head at the younger girl. "Don't be silly!" she said. "The more the merrier! And you were just asking if Larsa was free for tea a minute ago."

Margarethe's lips pursed and she looked as though she was desperately searching for something to say. The only thing she came up with was, "All right. So long as I'm not intruding…"

"Not at all," Penelo said.

She knew she was probably jumping to conclusions, but she thought that perhaps Larsa was shy or busy and lacked the time to properly pursue a relationship with the girl. It was obvious to Penelo that Margarethe liked Larsa, otherwise why would she be visiting the palace to see if he was free for tea? And Trish had described her as a friend. Larsa had never written to Penelo about his friends in Archades and she was glad to have met one.

Women in Archades often walked in pairs, so Penelo offered her arm to Margarethe. "Come on," she said, tilting her head to the side and smiling.

Margarethe took her arm hesitantly. "I… all right," she said.

"So how do you know Larsa?" Penelo asked. Margarethe's eyes widened slightly at the informality and Penelo wondered at the extent of Archadian stuffiness.

"My grandfather was Chairman Gregoroth," Margarethe said.

Penelo recognized the name almost immediately. "I'm sorry," she said.

"Oh, no, don't be," Margarethe replied. "One must not dwell on the past after all."

"No," Penelo said, gently mimicking the younger girl's more formal tone. "One must not."

"You were one of Lord Larsa's traveling partners during the war, were you not?" Lady Margarethe asked.

Penelo nodded. "I met him in Bhujerba. He saved me from a mean old Judge."

"I have not had the pleasure of hearing the story," Lady Margarethe said in a tone that Penelo thought sounded almost cautious, "But it sounds rather exciting. Would you mind terribly if I asked you to relate it?"

Penelo couldn't help but smile at how the way that Margarethe talked was so much like the way that Larsa talked. "It's a long story and it's not _that_ exciting," Penelo said. "Are you sure you want to hear it?"

Margarethe smiled at her. "Yes, if it is not too much trouble."

So Penelo told her about how she'd been trying to escape the mine and gotten caught by Judge Ghis and Marquis Ondore, but Margarethe had stopped her to inquire why she had been in the mine. So Penelo found herself telling the whole story about how Ba'Gamnan had kidnapped her in Rabanastre.

"I guess Larsa met up with my friends outside the mines," Penelo said as they approached the elevator. "Vaan told me that Ba'Gamnan had them cornered and so Larsa threw a rock at his face," she chuckled at the relation. She could just picture tiny little Larsa hurling the nethicite at the huge bangaa. "And then they all ran away. I guess Larsa got out of the mine first—my friends hung back because Judge Ghis was right outside, but of course Larsa being the emperor's son didn't have to worry about Judges."

"He threw a rock at a bangaa bounty hunter?" Margarethe asked incredulously. "How brave!"

"Hit him right in the face," Penelo said. "He was definitely gutsier than he looked."

"And then what happened?" Margarethe asked, eager to hear the rest of the story as Trish hit the button for the 75th floor.

"Well," Penelo said, trying to think back. "Judge Ghis said something about Larsa traveling alone, and Larsa said that he would not walk around by himself anymore and then he escorted me to Marquis Ondore's mansion." She smiled. "I thought it was so strange at first. I've never heard such a little kid speak so well and I had no idea who he was yet. But he knew my name somehow so I'd just assumed he met someone that knew me."

"It sounds like Lord Larsa was quite gallant," Margarethe said.

Penelo grinned. "Lord Larsa _is_ very gallant," she said, "Extremely thoughtful and polite. One of the best people I know."

"Yes," Margarethe said, "Lord Larsa is perhaps the best gentleman in my acquaintance." She flushed then as though she'd said something really embarrassing.

"Mine too," Penelo said, squeezing the girl's hand.

The elevator stopped and the door opened. Margarethe seemed to realize something as she was hesitant to step out. "I… have never had tea in Lord Larsa's personal drawing room," she said.

"Oh he takes tea in his study," Penelo replied easily. "There's a wonderful view… you've really never been up here?"

Margarethe shook her head and Penelo frowned. Perhaps it was some kind of Archadian political thing.

Larsa wasn't there when they arrived, but the settee, coffee table, and a chair had been moved out to the terrace. One of the butlers helped Penelo and Lady Margarethe get seated and poured them some tea. "Lord Larsa will be arriving shortly," he said.

Margarethe watched Larsa's waterfall and looked out over the city as she sipped her tea. "It _is_ wonderful here," she said. "Do you take tea with Lord Larsa here often?"

"Oh no," Penelo said, "Just twice before—once at his fourteenth birthday party and then last year."

"I see," Margarethe said. "Would you mind terribly if I asked you to tell me more about your travels? I have spent my whole life in Archades and so it is rather thrilling to hear of such adventures. Like reading a novel."

Penelo had to think about that one for a second. There were some things she knew that she couldn't say, like any mention of Basch for example. She also didn't want to say anything about the nethicite, manufacted or deifacted. She also didn't want to mention any time that someone had died. It seemed as though Margarethe was mostly interested in hearing about Larsa. After a moment's thought, she landed on the perfect story.

"There was one time," she said, "We were crossing the Ozmone Plain and Vaan—"

"Vaan is your… friend?" Margarethe asked. "Please excuse me for interrupting."

"Yeah," Penelo said with a wry smile. "You could say that. We've known each other forever and he's my partner."

"Partner?" Margarethe asked.

"We own an airship together," Penelo explained, "and fly around doing hunts and exploring and things like that."

Margarethe covered her mouth with a gloved hand. "Like sky pirates?" she asked.

There was a word Penelo had hoped to avoid while she was in Archades. She didn't want to hint at any association she might have with the Scarlet Feathers no matter how tenuous the relation might be. "I wouldn't say that, exactly," she said. "Just travelers."

"Still," Margarethe said, "You must lead such an eventful life."

_That's one way to say it,_ Penelo thought. "Sort of," she said. "It's mostly just small beds, bad weather, and worse food."

Margarethe seemed almost in awe of Penelo for a moment and the older girl couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed. She was about to say something else—probably that she was thinking about retiring anyway, but Margarethe seemed to remember herself and apologized.

"I'm sorry," she said, "You were telling a story…?"

By the time Penelo finished telling the story that ended with Larsa needing to use a Hi-Potion on Vaan after the older boy had gotten attacked by a band of irate wild bunnies, Larsa himself had shown up with a thousand apologies for his lateness.

Penelo couldn't help the mischievous smile that crept to her face as Larsa kissed Margarethe's hand to say hello.

#

Lady Margarethe for her part could not guess why Penelo had insisted she come to tea. It had placed the poor girl in a slightly awkward position. Here then, was the woman that Margarethe believed must certainly be the object of Lord Larsa's affections, speaking with Margarethe in an easy and familiar manner apparently bound and determined to be a close friend.

She could see, to her great misfortune, why Lord Larsa was so enamored of this girl who made every effort to become Margarethe's friend simply because she believed that Margarethe was Lord Larsa's friend. She was encouraging and humble and very kind. She must have been strong as well and exotic, Margarethe thought, to live the way that she did. And when the younger girl heard of how Larsa had saved the older one from being arrested and thrown into jail it sounded incredibly romantic to her, no matter how much Penelo had insisted that Larsa was "just a kid."

Margarethe was torn between wanting to hear more stories about Larsa and being pained at hearing how close he was to Penelo. She felt hurt, also, every time Penelo mentioned that Larsa was young and talked about her friend "Vaan." After all, it sounded as though she did not return Larsa's feelings and while this gave Margarethe hope, she also did not want to see Larsa injured in any way. By the time Larsa finally entered the room, though, Penelo had emphasized that she and Larsa were just friends so many times that Margarethe had begun to believe her. To hope that she had perhaps misinterpreted Larsa's feelings altogether.

But then the Emperor himself entered the room and Margarethe could see that he was a bit tense. That even though he kissed both their hands, he lingered over Penelo's. That his gaze kept shifting to the blonde girl who seemed to be making every effort to deflect his attention toward Margarethe. That he seemed almost uncomfortable at Margarethe's presence. That even though he said he was glad to see her, there was a distance in his expression that made Margarethe disbelieve his words.

"Lady Penelo was kind enough to entertain me with stories of your travels together," Margarethe said after all the pleasantries had been finished.

"Oh?" Larsa said, raising an eyebrow at Penelo.

"Yes," Penelo said. "Like how you bravely threw a rock at a rather frightening bangaa and then saved me from rotting in a Bhujerban prison for the rest of my natural life."

"You would certainly not have been let to rot," Larsa said, as though trying to downplay his involvement. "Marquis Ondore would like have let you go just as soon as Judge Ghis and I rejoined the Imperial Fleet."

"Ah!" Penelo said, "So I would have been there when my friends showed up at his manor looking for me instead of on the _Leviathan_!"

"Perhaps," Larsa said, "Though it is hard to know with such events long past."

A devious smile broke across Penelo's face. "So, technically," she began, "I mean, _really_ what happened was that you _actually_ kidnapped me."

Larsa's mouth opened just the slightest in shock. "I swore to you that you would come to no harm and I had every intention of—"

Penelo was laughing at him though, covering her mouth with both her hands. "Larsa," she said, "You're so _easy_."

He shut his mouth then and glared at her though he still wore a smile on his face. "Such a brave girl to mock the Emperor so in his own palace."

Penelo stuck her tongue out at him and Margarethe was surprised at how childish the girl was. In the Emperor's presence, no less! But Larsa seemed to take the gesture in stride, merely raising his eyebrows as he sipped his tea.

"Why did you not leave her to her friends in Bhujerba?" Margarethe asked, curious. She did not know much about the war, but it seemed to her that the Marquis's manse would have been much safer than the Dreadnought _Leviathan_.

"I was not entirely sure of Marquis Ondore's intentions until her friends appeared on the _Leviathan_," Larsa explained. "I could only be assured of her safety if she stayed near to me. Although the _Leviathan _proved to be quite dangerous in the end."

Margarethe could see that Penelo longed to change the subject. She knew that the _Leviathan_ had met an ill end and thought that perhaps the other girl did not wish to discuss it. Lord Larsa looked as though he was remembering something less than pleasant as well.

Margarethe was trying to think of another subject which they could discuss, when Penelo said suddenly, "Hey Larsa, the ballet tonight—was Vaan supposed to come to that too?"

It took Larsa a moment to run the question through his mind. Margarethe could see him narrow his eyes just slightly before he flashed a broad smile that did not quite reach his eyes and said, "Yes. I suppose we do have an extra seat. Margarethe would you like to join us?"

"Of course she would!" Penelo exclaimed before Margarethe had a chance to decline respectfully. "Have you ever been to the ballet before?"

"I have," Margarethe said. "I do enjoy the dances and am especially fond of the music. It is usually quite beautiful."

"Larsa keeps telling me they stand on the very tips of their toes," Penelo said, "And they spin around."

Margarethe smiled at the girl's explanation. "Yes," she said nodding, "That is a thing they do most frequently."

"So you'll come then, won't you?" Penelo asked. "It's always nice to have another girl around."

And Margarethe couldn't help but wonder what she was getting herself into when she said, "I suppose I will have to then."

* * *

><p>CHAPTER ELEVEN PREVIEW:<p>

_A special kind of torture  
><em>

* * *

><p>NOTES: So I kind of didn't have a computer for a little bit, hence the gap in updates. Now that I have one that doesn't freeze every five seconds I'm thinking of going back and fixing the two chapters that came before this one and maybe tweaking this one a little. I dunno yet though, I'll see how it goes.<p>

**THANK YOU!  
><strong>_**  
><strong>Ariels Lament: _I usually hate writing long descriptions. I like to say that liking Ernest Hemingway ruined my life :P I thought they were kind of necessary for that section, though, so I kind of had to grit my teeth and get down to it. I'm glad you thought it worked out! I wish my room were scantily clad, but it actually kind of looks like a hurricane hit it or like somebody went through it looking for valuables to steal, or like a hoarder lives in it... :S I actually googled pictures of what I wanted to write about so I at least had pictures to butcher, maybe something like that would work for you? :D (not that you would butcher them, that's just what I did)

_always-kh: _Thanks! Re-reading it, I kind of thought that part might be boring. Anyway, tax evasion and embezzlement are pretty serious business and the risk benefit for doing it and possibly being found and having your whole family murdered kind of swings in favor of not doing it. The Tokugawa shogunate did this whole keeping families in the capital thing and managed to stay in power for about 200 years, which is a pretty long time for a Japanese feudal society. More recently, Chinese officials do this thing where they send their families (and assets) abroad where the Communist party can't reach them in case something happens, like the official comes under a corruption investigation. Generally speaking, if you're living under a government that has even a few issues with human rights and democracy, you don't want the government to have your family and if you're stealing from the government then you probably want your family out of the country. I used to be an econ major, so sometimes I think about money a lot :S TL;DR: Tax evasion is actually really serious and people don't like their families getting murdered

_Marta: _Thanks! But actually, our tax code is like a million pages long and nobody understands it :(

_Crow Skywalker: _Thanks!

_moonmuse: _:D!


	11. eleven: a special kind of torture

ON YOUR WINGS

_chapter eleven: a special kind of torture_

* * *

><p>Larsa fought to keep his smile as it became increasingly obvious that Penelo was going to insist on Margarethe's accompanying them for every event that Larsa had scheduled for the week. That rather than spend quality time with Penelo, he would now be spending time with Penelo <em>and<em> Margarethe. It became increasingly clear, also, that Penelo seemed to believe that Margarethe and Larsa should be a couple and that Larsa harbored secret feelings for the girl that he was too proper or too shy to admit to.

He could see that Margarethe was having some trouble with Penelo's friendliness as well. The Dalmascan had accepted Margarethe without a second thought just the way she had Larsa years before. It was an uncommon kindness in Archades, to put it mildly.

When he heard Penelo retell her version of the day that they'd met it was all he could do not to relate how he had seen it. It _was_ like something out of a fairy tale as Margarethe pointed out pensively later. Larsa had been expecting to find, if anything, a crying damsel in distress, frightened after having been kidnapped by bounty hunters. That was, after all, what Ba'Gamnan had said she would be doing.

Yet when he exited the mines, he saw her standing straight and not only was she _not_ crying, she was arguing—with a Judge Magister and a Marquis, no less! Further, Larsa could detect no trace of tears on her face at all. She seemed, frustrated, worried, and quite a long way from home, but she had not given up.

She was beautiful as well, though Larsa had quite expected her to be, with golden hair and an angel's face. The feathers in her hair had only served to reinforce the image, and Larsa had quite wondered whether she might actually possess wings. He'd gathered her by the arm and taken her to Marquis Ondore's mansion and she was obviously quite relieved. He had felt heroic and confident as he used her name. She had seemed a bit surprised, but did not question it just then. Was content simply to walk with him.

He had to admit he _had_ been a bit jealous when she ran so quickly to Vaan on the _Leviathan_ but that had passed with time. Larsa had known he was young and he was not afraid to wait.

Though now the waiting seemed like it was going to be for naught as Penelo made plans to spend the rest of the day getting to know Lady Margarethe. Thankfully, Margarethe was already engaged for dinner and so Larsa had that small reprieve, but for the rest of it…

She had said seventeen and he had listened. He had never quite failed to get anything that he really wanted and he lived with the confidence that he would eventually get his way with everything, including the girl he'd decided was to be the object of his affection. But for her to go the whole way thinking that he was meant to be with someone else—it was something that he was not quite willing to allow.

"—explore Tsenoble," Penelo was saying. "I've only been there once and we didn't exactly stop to look around."

"If you wish," Lady Margarethe replied. "I know of many charming boutiques."

"I will send a Judge with the both of you as an escort," Larsa said doing his best to smile charmingly.

"Do we need an escort?" Penelo asked. "We'll have Miss Trish and… I'm sorry," Penelo turned to Margarethe's handmaiden. "I never got your name."

"Milly," the maid replied, curtsying.

"Miss Milly," Penelo said. "Besides it's _Tsenoble_ how much trouble could we possibly run into?"

Penelo was no doubt mentally comparing the residents of Tsenoble to residents of certain other places, like Balfonheim perhaps. Her posture was confident and dismissive as though she had little to fear from a bunch of, what Vaan would surely have called, poncy stuffed shirt noblefolk.

"Lady Penelo, it is not a matter of the trouble that might befall you but rather of the trouble that you might _cause_ without a responsible chaperone."

The Dalmascan girl's face was a perfect mask of innocence as she said, "_Lord_ Larsa how impolite of you to imply that I am a troublemaker!" She grinned then and said, "Besides, don't you think Lady Margarethe is a responsible enough chaperone?"

"I would be quite impressed if Lady Margarethe had the fortitude to restrain you," Larsa joked. "For I certainly never have."

"I cannot imagine that Lady Penelo could ever cause so much trouble as to require _restraint_," Margarethe said, kindly.

"_Thank you_," Penelo said, with a grateful nod in Margarethe's direction. "See," she said, turning on Larsa with the same wide eyed angelic expression she'd used earlier. "Lady Margarethe has faith in me."

"Lady Margarethe has not known you so long as I have," Larsa said.

Penelo pouted. "Oh well," she said, shrugging at Margarethe. "I guess we'll just have to prove Lord Larsa wrong by behaving _perfectly_."

"I'm sure that should be no trouble," Margarethe replied with confidence.

Larsa did not seriously believe that Penelo would cause trouble. Between the pirates, she had always been the more responsible of the two and from what Larsa understood of their first trip to Tsenoble, they had not only failed to cause a commotion, but also acquired enough chops to trade for one of sandalwood in what he understood was a relatively short period of time.

He _did_ think that Penelo easily underestimated the potential dangers of the city, though she would have never accepted a guard. He also thought it would behoove him to have a loyal ear to her conversations with Margarethe and so after tea, he had Bellamy notify the doorman that a Judge should be sent with them.

#

Before dinner, while Penelo was presumably getting ready, Larsa had a short meeting with the Judge that had gone with them. The man's name was apparently Cyrus and he was around Penelo's age and on the right track to someday becoming a Magister.

"She insisted that I not wear my helmet," Cyrus reported, "As she felt it was… I believe the word she used was 'weird,' Your Excellency."

Larsa nodded, "That is fine. Were there any notable occurrences?"

"A young boy had apparently snuck into Tsenoble from Old Archades and he was about to be jailed. He apparently claimed that he was only searching for his father. Lady Penelo stepped in and gave him a few chops, claiming that he was no longer trespassing and wanted to escort him back to Old Archades, but I told her that would be unwise."

"Incredibly," Larsa said. "What happened to the boy?"

"I assigned the Legionnaire who was about to arrest him to take him home under the orders of the Emperor's personal friends," Cyrus replied.

"That was very good of you," Larsa nodded. "Anything else?"

"Nothing of note," Cyrus shrugged. "Lady Penelo seemed quite excited to discover ice cream. She had apparently never had it before and on trying it insisted that the handmaidens and I partake as well."

"Did she have a favorite flavor?" Larsa asked.

"Strawberry, I believe, Your Excellency."

After the meeting, Larsa made up his mind to increase Judge Cyrus's salary. He had after all done a good service with patience for the task; however insignificant it may have seemed.

#

When he met Penelo for dinner, she elbowed him in the arm and said, "_Larsa_, I can't believe you never told me you had such a pretty friend!"

"Are you interested in her?" Larsa asked raising an eyebrow and knowing that he would get a rise out of Penelo. "Because if so I regret to inform you that I believe Lady Margarethe prefers gentlemen."

Penelo put her hands on her hips and pouted at him. Larsa tried to ignore the way that the dress he'd given her flattered her curves. Tried to focus his attention on his face. "You know what I mean," Penelo said. "She's a great girl."

"Lady Margarethe is quite charming," Larsa said, avoiding the topic. "And very polite."

"_Larsa_," Penelo said, exasperated. "She likes you, you know."

There it was. Larsa kept his expression a perfect blank as he said, "Lady Margarethe and I are just friends, Penelo."

Penelo narrowed her eyes suspiciously as she said, "She _is_ a beautiful girl, you know."

"_You_ are a beautiful girl," he said, hoping that she would catch the earnestness in his voice.

Instead she rolled her eyes at him, ignoring the compliment entirely. "You're just trying to avoid the issue," she announced. "Although I don't understand why you would be shy about it."

"There is truly nothing to be shy over," Larsa insisted.

"All right, all right," Penelo replied, raising her fork in surrender. "I'll drop it for now, but one of these days you'll have to admit your true feelings."

Larsa could not help but chuckle at the irony of the situation.

"I _mean_ it," Penelo said. "In your letters you're always writing about work. That's no way for a teenager to live."

"Perhaps you should visit more often, then," Larsa replied. "So that I may spend more time in the company of friends."

For a moment Penelo looked guilty. "I—I guess so," she said. She was quiet for a minute, looking down at her food. "Larsa, about what happened… when we stopped writing…"

"It was unpleasant," Larsa said, cutting her off. The death of the Red Lady had done little to allay his suspicions and it was a thing that he preferred, as Basch had advised him, not to think too deeply on. "Let us never repeat the experience."

From Penelo's curious smile it seemed that she was wondering whether he knew or did not know something. She didn't ask though, instead said, with conviction, "Yes, let's not."

"How was Tsenoble?" he asked, and listened patiently as she related all that Cyrus had told him, though with a few more details—mostly about how much she enjoyed Lady Margarethe's company.

"So it _was_ a good thing that Judge Cyrus accompanied you," Larsa said. "Otherwise you would have gone running off into Old Archades."

"I guess so," Penelo said. "I didn't think it was such a big deal, but I guess it's 'not safe for ladies of stature.' I would have had to leave Lady Margarethe in Tsenoble or…"

"Old Archades is not exactly safe for any lady traveling on her own," Larsa replied.

"I'm not exactly helpless," Penelo said. "Although I guess you're right. If there was a group of people or something…" she trailed off. "Still though, we couldn't have let a small child run back on his own."

"I suppose you could not," Larsa said.

"I guess you were running around on your own when you were very young, though," Penelo said.

Larsa smiled, "Bhujerba is hardly as dangerous as Old Archades."

"But you went into the mines with a group of complete strangers," Penelo said. "Don't you think that was a bit dangerous?"

Larsa shrugged. "In truth, Balthier had the accent of an Archades noble and Vaan appeared trustworthy enough. You cannot say that I did not choose well when I asked them to be my escort."

"I guess not," Penelo said, "You couldn't have chosen more perfectly. How was _your _day, anyway?" Penelo asked, switching subjects. "I didn't get to ask."

"Filled with boring meetings," Larsa said, "Nothing you'll want to hear I'm sure."

"It's funny," Penelo said, "You always _write_ me about them, but now that I'm here in person you don't want to say anything."

"I suppose in a letter I do not have to worry about boring you with my conversation," Larsa said. "It is… different in person."

"You don't have to worry about boring me," Penelo assured him. "Nothing's different just because I'm here."

"Of course you're right," Larsa said. "I was talking about taxes all day. Gabranth and I have reason to believe that several governors are collecting more in taxes than they should be and keeping the excess for themselves. If this suspicion bears out we will of course have to replace those governors."

"That's terrible," Penelo shook her head. "Why would they do that?"

"Because they are greedy old men who unfortunately do not fear me so much as they did my brother," Larsa said. "I am ashamed to say that there are times when I understand all too well why Vayne pursued the course that he did."

"I can't imagine it's easy," Penelo said. "And you said the Senate makes everything hard for you, right? It must be frustrating, but… I know that you would never actually do what Vayne did."

"Of course not," Larsa nodded. "There are always other ways. They may be more difficult, but they are certainly worth pursuing."

"That's what makes _you_ a better emperor," Penelo said. "Is that the special thing that Gabranth is doing?"

"They're auditing the regional governors," Larsa said, "He is currently installing the accountants and Judges with them to oversee the audit."

"That sounds like a good idea," Penelo said. "But how will you make sure they don't do it again in the future? I mean if they are."

"We will have to do better surveys in the cities," Larsa replied. "We have relied far too much on the governors' reports so far."

"Archadia is really big, isn't it?" Penelo said. "I always forget. Since we only come here and to Balfonheim."

"It is the largest Empire on the continent," Larsa replied.

"Maybe you should spend more time visiting around it instead of just being in Archades the whole time," Penelo said.

"Perhaps," Larsa said. "I suppose that it could not hurt. It might do good to show the people in the other cities that we do still consider them."

"And get you out of the city," Penelo said, shaking her fork at him. "You could always take Lady Margarethe too She was telling me that she's really never left Archades…"

Larsa sighed. "Penelo…"

#

It had been decided that because with the three of them going, either Penelo or Margarethe would have to go without an escort, that Trish would accompany Penelo. Trish had been hesitant at first, but Penelo was impossible to argue with and so one of the dresses that Larsa had had made for her was altered so that it could fit Trish. Larsa had asked if they needed additional maids sent up to help them dress, but both Penelo and Trish had declined.

"Miss Penelo," Trish said, "This is quite too much."

"Well you don't want me to have to walk on my own do you?" Penelo asked as she zipped up the back of Trish's dress. "Besides I don't really know anybody else here and I want Larsa to be able to walk with Lady Margarethe."

Trish spun to look at Penelo, frowning slightly. "Oh, but I'd thought…"

"Huh?" Penelo asked, tilting her head at the other girl as she fit small ruby earrings with dangling yellow feathers into her ears. Trish had convinced her to put her hair up in an Archadian style with braids going along the sides of her head and the rest of her hair pinned into broad curls at the back of her head. Tendrils of hair framed Penelo's face and she looked genuinely curious.

"Oh," Trish said, shaking her head. "Nevermind, Miss," she said.

Penelo had none of Trish's talent for doing hair, but Trish had luckily been able to fashion herself an attractive bun and she checked in the mirror. The dress she wore was pale green and white with pink flowers embroidered all around it. Penelo's dress was yellow and white with red trim.

"We look like a spring day in the desert," Penelo said, winding her arm through Trish's. "Have you ever been to the ballet?"

"A few times," Trish said, "Though never from the Emperor's box of course."

"You'll have to tell me what's going on then," Penelo said. "It'll be completely new to me."

"I have heard that the dance speaks for itself," Trish said.

"I'll bet."

#

The whole ride to the ballet, Larsa was trying to figure out how it had happened that one of the maids of his household was escorting his friend to the event rather than him. He had tried to say earlier that perhaps Judge Magister Zargabaath or even Judge Cyrus could escort Margarethe, but Penelo had been adamant about Trish going with her. "The Judges probably have other work to do, right?" Penelo had said.

They did.

And so there Larsa was, walking ahead of Penelo and Trish and behind his guard to the royal box. When they took their seats, Larsa found himself on the far left with Margarethe to his right, Penelo to her right, and Trish at the other end. So for the duration of the ballet, he saw her only out of the corner of his eye. He got to see Margarethe bend an ear to carry on a whispered conversation with Penelo whenever the curtains closed, but he wasn't privy to any of what was said.

It was far from the way that he had imagined the night going. He had thought Penelo would be impressed with the ballet and would have questions and comments, of course. But he had believed that she would be whispering them into _his_ ear and not into her handmaiden's or Margarethe's.

It was a little maddening to know that he'd finally gotten her to come for a visit alone and that he now had to share her attention with a girl he had not even planned on being too close to.

After the show they moved to the salon, but preserved their seating arrangement so that Larsa was once again a person off from the one he truly wanted to speak to. The table they sat at was round, though, so he at least sat across from her.

"Did you enjoy the show, Lady Penelo?" Larsa asked even though he had to lean a bit forward to do so.

"It was great!" she said, "Didn't you think so Margarethe?"

Margarethe nodded. "I do always enjoy such events. Although I didn't find the ballet quite as exciting as the opera Lord Larsa and I last attended."

"Was it about chocobos, like this one?"

Larsa knew what was coming and watched for Penelo's reaction.

"You likely would not think it so interesting as I did," Margarethe said, blushing a little. "It was about sky pirates, but of course you must be familiar."

Because he had been paying attention, he didn't miss the way that her face fell for just a moment before she recovered. "Oh I don't really know anything that much about pirates," she said a bit too quickly. Larsa almost had to wonder if all Dalmascans were poor liars. "I'm sure I would've thought it was just as interesting..."

"It was a love story," Margarethe gushed again, "about a lady pirate all in red, torn between her partner and her mentor."

Penelo shifted at that, struggling to smile encouragingly at Margarethe even though talk about the opera made her uncomfortable. The suspicions that Larsa had fostered over the time they'd been apart fell into line and he wondered whether it would be wise to ask her about it directly. Did he have to know for sure? Would it be better for their friendship if he did not quite? He was a little curious about whether she would try to lie to him as Ashe had.

He could not help but wonder too at whether her reaction was merely to the piracy or whether it stretched to the plot of the work as well. The love triangle. He never liked to think about it.

"That sounds so romantic," Penelo said, "I'll definitely have to see it the next time it comes on." She nodded a little too vigorously and then changed topics with some pace, "Hey, did you know that Miss Trish used to dance ballet?" Penelo asked excitedly.

Trish blushed. "Only for a little, when I was a very young girl," she said.

"She's promised to show me some of the steps," Penelo gushed.

"O-only if Lord Larsa does not mind," Trish said, looking a little nervous.

"Your duty for the week is to attend to Lady Penelo," Lord Larsa said, "I am sorry to say that means you are entirely at her mercy."

"Will we need music I wonder?" Penelo asked.

"I can play the piano a little," Lady Margarethe said. "If Lord Larsa will not mind sparing one."

"Not at all," Larsa found himself saying. Though it gave him the vague impression that he was losing control of his household to do so.

Margarethe said that she was occupied with lessons the following day, and so a date was settled on later in the week for the three of them to gather in the ballroom, which they had decided was probably the best room for dancing.

#

Larsa found that he was quite relieved when they finally dropped Margarethe at her home and also quite happy that he managed to convince Penelo to take a walk with him in the garden to see the spring flowers.

They walked arm in arm through the garden in relative quiet.

"It's much warmer in the spring," Penelo said, stopping to admire a few daisies.

"It is," Larsa said, "Though it's still cold in the cities farther north."

"You know, as much flying around as I do I've never been up there," Penelo said. "Is it really like the Paramina Rift?"

"It snows quite often," Larsa said. "In certain places. But I have heard that their summers are temperate and beautiful."

"So you haven't been either?" Penelo asked, poking him in the arm.

"I have, just not in all seasons," Larsa smiled.

"You should make a point to go for summer," Penelo said. "Like we were talking about before… I'm sure Lady Margarethe would love to see the North Country."

Larsa's smile disappeared. "I do not know why I should have to say it so many times," he said, "but I quite assure you that Lady Margarethe is only a friend."

"Even so," Penelo said, breaking away from to go and sit on a bench nearby. "You went traveling with me and Vaan and we were just friends."

"Those were… slightly different circumstances," Larsa said, taking a seat next to her.

"Well, yeah," Penelo said. She bit the left side of her bottom lip, took his hands into hers and then said, "But Larsa, I never hear you talk about girls at all and at your age… Well I mean if not Lady Margarethe, there must be _somebody _right?"

He inhaled deeply and then moved a gloved hand to her cheek. She stiffened at his touch and then relaxed, putting one of her hands to his wrist and tilting her head at him. "Is it maybe one of the maids or somebody you don't want to say?" she asked.

He squeezed the hand that she still held. "_Penelo_…"

He saw her eyes widen and he thought that for a moment that perhaps she understood. But she pulled back from him giggling instead. "Larsa, you're so _serious_," she said as she put her hands up in surrender. "All right, I won't ask anymore. I promise."

"What about you?" Larsa asked, straightening and trying to keep a humored smile on his face. "Since you seem so sure that _I _must be pining?"

Her face darkened and she looked away and Larsa immediately felt a fool for asking. _Of course_, he thought, remembering the casual way Vaan had played with her hair as he was leaving. The longing look she'd given him as he disappeared into their airship.

The jealousy he felt was like a stab. He knew. He'd always known, but mostly he had been wise enough not to think about it too much.

Now Penelo was stammering, "Well, you know how it is, I move around so much and—"

"Vaan?" he asked, finding that he was in fact just a little angry with her though he knew he had no real cause to be.

She looked relieved at his guess. "Sort of," she said. "I mean it's complicated. We want really different things, you know?"

"Oh?"

"I mean I never thought that the way we live now was going to be a real _life_. It's fine now, but I just can't imagine flying around the same way when I'm thirty or forty or…" she bit her lip and shook her head. "This is probably boring you," she said smiling at him. "You don't need to hear about my personal problems."

"You don't have to worry about boring me," he said, echoing perfectly what she'd said during dinner.

"It's just… it's hard," she tried to explain. "To think about being without him. I mean we own the ship together and we have so many memories in Rabanastre… I just—I don't know where else I would go."

"Well, you will always have a room in Archades if ever you have need of it," Larsa said.

Penelo looked at him then, eyebrows scrunching just slightly. "Thank you, Larsa," she said. "That's very kind of you to say."

"It is the least I could do for a friend."

#

Something about the day's events nagged at Penelo, though she couldn't quite figure out what. As she slid into bed and Trish closed the curtains around her, she had to ask one question that had been pressing at her.

"Miss Trish, earlier—when you said 'oh, but I thought…'—what were you going to say after that?"

"Oh, nothing, Miss," Trish replied. "My head was all in a jumble about going to the ballet with the Emperor. It was quite above my station, you know."

Penelo frowned at that answer. "I… If you say so."

"Goodnight, Miss."

"Goodnight, Miss Trish."

Penelo felt like the other girl was lying, but she didn't know what she would be lying about or why. And Larsa… was it just in her imagination or _had_ he been acting a little strangely? The way that he'd touched her cheek… but no. They were just friends, of course. Perhaps friends that needed better defined boundaries as he got older, but friends nonetheless. She guessed it was probably just the strangeness of being in Archades in general that was bothering her.

Except as she closed her eyes she realized that Archades wasn't actually bothering her as much as she'd thought it had been. That what was strange was that even though her surroundings were at odds with her, she felt lighter, more at ease than she had in over a year. Perhaps it was the new friends she'd made, or the fact that she had a semi-permanent bed to sleep in, no matter that it was much too large for her. It was a thought that worried her, though she didn't quite know why.

It had only really been a day and a half and she already wished that she could see Vaan. Something about the city gave her the vague impression that her world was slowly being turned upside down.

* * *

><p>CHAPTER TWELVE PREVIEW:<p>

_No rest for the wicked_

* * *

><p>NOTES: Still living life among the technologically challenged. . I feel like I could have done more with this chapter, but since my shiny new computer won't connect to the internet I'm stuck with the worst computer ever (freezes every five seconds, basically just sucks). Oh well. I'm pretty excited about the next chapter though!<p>

THANK YOU!

Crow Skywalker: I only got through the start of FF6 too... :S FF12 is pretty fun though. That license board was like an addiction for me. I was all "must... fill... NEED LP!" Well, also I thought the story and characters were interesting but that's pretty apparent. :D Also I love your screenname because I am also a Star Wars fan :S!

always-kh: I hope this chapter was ok too! I kind of hate when the "other" chick is a bitch. It always seems so fake and, I dunno. Easy? I really like Margarethe and I'm glad you do too. I feel bad for her :/

Ariels Lament: Cruel is such a strong word.. although not totally inaccurate. I feel bad for everybody I'm writing, but I keep writing them that way anyway. Sigghhh.

Marta: I 3 Penelo too! Did I ever mention that your name reminds me of Dragon Quest VIII?

Zora Angel: I like their friendship too! I think they're going to be great friends. It just sucks that Margarethe likes Larsa, Larsa likes Penelo, and Penelo is oblivious :P Well, sucks for Margarethe and Larsa anyway lol.


	12. twelve: no rest for the wicked

ON YOUR WINGS

_chapter twelve: no rest for the wicked_

* * *

><p><em>She's been wishing for it so badly she hasn't even allowed herself to think about it. When it finally hits her it does so with all the force of the Bahamut sinking to the sand- all that times ten-and there is a moment, an interminable moment, when she finds that she simply cannot <span>breathe<span>. __Like the air in her lungs has gone up in a flash fire and all that's left is a persistent burning._

_Because she knows why she's been so unsettled. So lightly strained and anxious. This whole time, from the very beginning, she's been waiting for Vaan to show up, to say that he was wrong and that he's missed her and that there's no way, __no way__ that sky pirating is more important to him than spending his life with her._

_And it's not going to happen. That's not who he is. She knows who is is better than anybody. Better than he does, even. As long as she doesn't think about it, she can pretend otherwise. That she doesn't know, that maybe he has grown up to be the person she feels like she desperately needs him to be, but now she is thinking about it and she can't stop. _

_She's at an outdoor concert and everything is light and colorful and Margarethe is telling her something that she can't understand, because all of a sudden all she can understand, all she can process is that there's a hole in her heart, so big and so heavy it's like a star gone supernova and it's slowly pulling the rest of her in.  
><em>

_And she doesn't mean to lie. She doesn't mean to trick them, but she knows she can't be here anymore. Can't go back to the palace. She needs to go somewhere else. Somewhere she won't be looking for him, waiting for him, expecting him. So she asks Margarethe to dance, and as a particularly energetic number starts up, Penelo twists and twirls and slips away.  
><em>

* * *

><p>When she got there, she couldn't have told anyone exactly what had propelled her to Old Archades. Vaan hated it there, that she knew. More than anything else in the rest of Archades, he hated the smell and he wouldn't have any reason to be there. She could rest assured that she wouldn't be craning her head looking after every blonde boy walking by, hoping that Vaan had come to find her.<p>

So she wandered aimlessly for a bit, half-covering her nose and just glad to be away from anyone she had to talk to. She felt numb and wanted to walk away her sadness, imagined it drifting down and out through her feet, filtering into the ground as she stepped and stepped. Old Archades was a sad place after all.

Something flashed in the corner of her eye and she turned quick, hand closing on her dagger. Down the way a boy was running away from a larger man swinging a whip and she recognized him suddenly as the boy that they'd found in Tsenoble just the day before. The man swung his whip and without even a second thought Penelo rushed forward.

There was a scream. But realistically she had no way of knowing whether it had come from her or from someone else. The back of her arm burned. Her shoulder burned. But she sprang up, holding her knife at the ready. The boy was stunned on the stones behind her.

"Dumb bitch!" the man shouted. "Get out of the way!"

He raised the whip again and Penelo had a moment to think about how mad Larsa was going to be if he found out she'd run off to Old Archades when he'd specifically told her not to and gotten whipped in the street by some random thug. It wasn't something she wanted to think about. She caught the boy's eye with hers and nudged him with her leg.

They were about to run when a thin woman ran, screeching, at the man holding the whip. "Don't you touch him!" she screamed.

Penelo was startled. Startled because it was like she'd come out of nowhere and startled because she realized that she recognized her. The man threw her to the ground. "Stupid whore!" Raised up the whip again and now it was Penelo's turn to tackle him. She rushed at him, angling the handle of her knife into his ribcage and they bowled over onto the ground.

The air rushed out of him and she sprang up, grabbing the whip as she did so.

"Get the hell out of here," she said, standing away from him as he caught his breath.

He glared at her as he pulled himself to his feet slowly, gasping. "I won't forget this," he said, shaking a finger at her before he spat on the ground and hobbled away.

A small crowd had gathered around them, though no one moved forward to offer any help. Penelo was bleeding where she'd been whipped and angry welts were rising up where she'd been hit. The woman was getting up off the ground and the boy had run to her. "Mom!"

"Conor, you had me worried sick..."

She looked him over to make sure he was ok, checking his head, his arms. Once she was certain that he was fine, she hugged him and looked over his head. "Penelo?" she asked. "It can't be..."

"Alma... it's... it's been long."

* * *

><p><em>When they were young they danced. <em>

_Penelo remembers flowing red-gold hair, a playful flashing smile. Steps done in unison to applause and donations. Through droughts, through the plague, through everything.  
><em>

_Everything except the Invasion.  
><em>

_She remembers seeing the Imperials march through Rabanastre. She remembers Reks grabbing her arm and telling her, "Don't dance. Don't you let anybody see you dance."  
><em>

_And she remembers not understanding why, in such a sad time, she can't do the one thing that has always made her happy.  
><em>

_"Penelo," he says. "Trust me."  
><em>

_She does. Like he's her own brother. They sell away all her dancing clothes for food and when she hears music, she turns her head. She sees Alma less and less, but for a while her smile is holding steady.  
><em>

_Then it dims, and it dims, and then..._

_Then Penelo doesn't see her at all._

* * *

><p>"You lot are insane," a man said as he walked out of the crowd, "Picking fights with Durin, what are you thinking?"<p>

He helped Alma up and it seemed like everyone is trying to talk all at once.

"He was chasing the boy-"

"He whipped Conor-"

"Oryn he wanted to hurt Mom-"

The man shook his head and picked up Penelo's arm to get a better look at her shoulder. "Everyone's got a few bumps and scrapes, but this seems to be the most serious wound."

Penelo was about to tell him that it was nothing she couldn't take care of herself, but he turned away from her and motioned to Alma. "Come on, let's get you patched up."

Alma and the boy, who Penelo figured must be Conor, seemed to trust the man. Penelo followed along with them, keeping a hand on her dagger and an eye on the streets.

"Have to admit I've never seen you around here," Oryn said. It took Penelo a moment to realize he was talking to her.

"I'm from Rabanastre," she said. "I'm just here visiting a friend."

Oryn raised an eyebrow. "Alma?"

"I didn't even know she was here," Alma said. "I haven't seen you since..." her voice trailed away.

"The war," Penelo said, casting a glance at Oryn. He had a muscular build that reminded her of Basch somewhat. Strong sword arm. He must've been a soldier.

"Terrible business, that was," Oryn said, brushing it off.

He knocked against an old wooden door a few times and someone inside opened it for them. "After you," he said, gesturing Penelo, Alma, and Conor in. They all walked in and he shut and barred the door behind them.

There was a girl, maybe a little younger than Margarethe already inside. "Oryn, what happened?" she asked.

"Alma and Conor ran into a spot of trouble with Durin," Oryn replied. "I assume this brave young lady dashed to their rescue?"

Penelo opened her mouth to protest, "He was going to _wh-_"

But Conor cut her off. "She did," he said. "And she saved me the other day in Tsenoble too."

"Tsenoble," Oryn repeated. "Explains the clothes. Did you get lost, miss ...?"

"Penelo," she said. "It's just Penelo. I was taking a walk, that's all."

"Funny place to take a walk, let me see that arm- Anyra I need some magicite."

"We're low," the girl said. "Oryn she looks like she has money you can't just-"

"Anyra," he said. "When did my cousin become so stingy, I wonder?"

"I have money," Penelo said, digging into her coin purse. "I have some gil and a chop." She tossed the bag over to Anyra. "Have it."

Anyra's eyes bugged at the offer. "It's just a small bit of magicite," she said, "It's hardly enough to cast a Cure... that's too much."

"See what you've done?" Oryn said, taking the magicite from his cousin. "Now you've let the lady overpay."

"It was money that I was given," Penelo said, almost ashamed to admit it. "Nothing that I earned."

Alma's eyes widened and she moved over to cover Conor's ears before hissing at Penelo, "Not you, Penny. Please tell me you're not...?"

It took a moment for Penelo to understand what the other woman was concerned about, but when she finally did it floored her. "Alma," she said, shaking her head, "_No._"

Meanwhile Oryn was working on her arm. The charm he cast was serviceable, but the magicite was of a lower quality and he seemed to not have trained extensively in healing magicks. Nonetheless she felt some relief in her arm and her back. It would definitely need a second looking at when she got back to the palace.

Alma backed into a chair and pulled Conor close to her. "Gods," she said. "I nearly thought... but of course you would never... oh Penny, so much has happened since the last time I saw you. What friends could you possibly have in Archades?"

Penelo didn't know what to say. She didn't know what to ask. Something terrible had obviously happened to Alma to bring her to Old Archades. Who knew how long she had been living there? And meanwhile Penelo would say what? That she was a personal guest of the emperor. That she honestly hadn't really thought much about the other girl in years?

"She was with another fancy lady," Conor said. "They had maids and a guard."

"You must have important friends," Oryn said. He smiled at Conor. "Looks like the lady still needs a bit of bandaging though. Why don't you come with me?"

Penelo got the feeling that he wanted to talk to her, so she nodded and followed him to a small back room. He shut the door behind them, then pulled down a clean cloth from a shelf and wrapped her welts with it.

"Look," he began. "I don't know who you are. I don't know what you do. I don't know who you know or why you know them, but I will tell you this: if you have any pull at all with these noble friends of yours... if you can do anything at all to get Alma some kind of position as a maid or... something. After what you lot pulled with Durin this place is going to be hell for her and the boy if they stay."

"That was the man with the whip," Penelo said. "Who is he?"

"He sells women," Oryn replied, his voice flat. "Drugs. Whatever he can get his hands on. Generally a sorry, violent excuse for a human being and he has friends. A whole gang that'll be out looking for those two come sundown."

"You're not afraid?" Penelo asked.

"Miss, I just run a simple health clinic that can't even heal a whipped Dalmascan," Oryn said. Penelo's eye caught a glint of steel in the dim light and she knew that there was more to the story.

"You used to live in Tsenoble," Penelo stated.

"Trant, actually," Oryn replied. "Lovely guess though. You're as patched up as I can get you. Would you like an escort back to the more civilized reaches of Archadian society?"

"I... thank you," Penelo said.

"Thank _you_," Oryn said. "For taking that lash for the boy. Not many would have done the same."

"Is he..." Penelo almost hesitated to ask. "Is he your son."

"No," Oryn shook his head. "Nephew. It's a complicated thing, Miss. I would appreciate it if you would refrain from mentioning me to your noble friends."

"It's just Penelo," she said. "You don't need to call me Miss."

"All right, _Miss_," Oryn replied with a teasing smile. He helped her out of her seat and walked her to the door.

"I'll be taking the young lady back to the gate. You all stay here and stay safe while I'm gone," Oryn said to Alma, Conor, and Anyra.

They nodded at him and Penelo said her goodbyes as well before they left.

The pair hadn't gone very far before Penelo caught sight of Cyrus and two legionnaires combing the streets for her. Oryn cursed under his breath as Cyrus caught sight of them. The Judge motioned for the two legionnaires to stay behind and approached Penelo and her escort.

"You," Cyrus said, addressing Oryn and ignoring Penelo for the moment.

"The boy failed to mention that your guard was a Judge," Oryn said to Penelo. "So you must be a guest of the Imperial House?"

"That is none of your concern," Cyrus said, taking Penelo's arm.

"Long time no see, Cyrus," Oryn said and Penelo was mildly surprised that they knew each other, although she felt that she shouldn't have been. She'd already guessed Oryn was a soldier after all. "You seem to have been doing well."

"For old time's sake," Cyrus said, "And just this once: I didn't see you."

Oryn nodded. "That's fair," he said. "Thank you." He disappeared down an alley as Penelo and Cyrus went to rejoin the legionnaires.

"That man," Penelo said. "How do you know him?"

"We served together," Cyrus said. "He and his cousin are currently fugitives. For the murder of his brother. If you are kind, you will perhaps not mention this to Lord Larsa."

Penelo's eyes narrowed at this new information.

Complicated, he'd called it. In light of this, that seemed an understatement.

* * *

><p>Back at the Imperial Palace, Trish was nowhere to be found and Larsa was very clearly upset with her. He was more worried about the bandages on her arm though and seemed to not know quite what to say.<p>

"Penelo," he tried. "I'm so glad you're all right. What were you thinking? What's happened to your arm?"

It all came in a jumble a little faster than she'd expected and certainly faster than she could respond to. "We'll get her patched up," Augusta said, bustling Penelo away and saving them both. "Perhaps she will meet your for tea after?"

"Yes," Larsa said, nodding them away, "Please."

Penelo saw Larsa talking to Cyrus and wondered what they were saying. Augusta interrupted her train of thought.

"You gave Lord Larsa quite the scare. When he'd heard you disappeared he nearly had a fit. Lady Margarethe did not fare much better."

"I apologize," Penelo said. "I hadn't meant to..."

"And what did you think would come of you sneaking away the way you did? Lord Larsa nearly though Lady Margarethe had been a part of the whole scheme, the poor girl was mortified."

Penelo shut her eyes, embarrassed. "Oh Gods," she said, "I really hadn't meant... Are they all right? I'll explain to Larsa it was all my fault."

"It became obvious quite quickly that you'd snuck off on your own," Augusta said. "Besides we all know that Lady Margarethe is not the sort to engage in that kind of irresponsible mischief."

Deserved as it was, the insult stung. "I wasn't thinking," Penelo said. "It was..."

"Selfish. Childish, one might say, though I would never say such things about a guest of the Emperor."

She _was_ saying it though. Because Penelo was not a lady, had not acted like a lady, had not respected that the palace staff was going out of their way to take care of her, that a Judge got pulled off his normal duty to watch her, that legionnaires had to be sent out to find her, and that Larsa. Gods, _Larsa_.

"I'm such an idiot," Penelo said. "I shouldn't have... I'm so sorry."

"We all do silly things when we're young," Augusta said, noticing that Penelo was genuinely sorry. "And I'm not the person you should be apologizing to."

There it was, back to Larsa. Larsa who had done so much for her. She had repaid him by making him worry, by asking him favors, and here she was prepared to ask another one.

That reminded her. Sundown.

"Miss Augusta," Penelo said suddenly, "Is it all right if- I need to talk to Lord Larsa as soon as possible."

"We need to get you patched up first, Miss Penelo," Augusta replied.

"It's nothing," Penelo replied, "Just a scratch. Please, Miss Augusta, it's important."

The older woman took in the flecks of dried blood on Penelo's clothes and the hint of urgency in her voice.

"All right," she said. "I'll walk you to Lord Larsa's study then. But you've no right to blame me if it scars."

* * *

><p>When Penelo entered the study, Larsa stood up immediately alarmed.<p>

"Penelo!" he exclaimed. "Your arm. Why have you not-"

"I will," she cut him off. "It's not a serious wound, I promise, but..." she paused here and shut her eyes. "Larsa I'm so sorry, but I need to ask you a favor."

"Of course," he said, rounding the table to take gentle hold of her elbows. "What do you need?"

"Do you have any room for a maid in the palace?" she asked.

"A maid?" Larsa repeated, his forehead scrunching. "I suppose so. I apologize, I don't quite understand- Penelo, you are a guest, you do not have to work here and you can stay for as long as you wish..."

"Not for me," Penelo shook her head. "I saw an old friend in old Archades. She and her son are in trouble with a gang there and they need to leave by tonight."

"I can send legionnaires to collect them straight away. Would Judge Cyrus recognize your friend?"

"He knows the boy," Penelo said. "I can go with them-"

"No," Larsa replied, his voice stern and flat. "I do apologize Penelo, but while you are my guest I would much prefer it if you could refrain from putting yourself in such risky situations."

"Larsa," she said. "You know what I do for a living."

He raised an eyebrow and this surprised her a little. She almost wished she could take the statement back. After the whole business with the Red Lady and with how smart Larsa was. How could he not suspect? "Do I?" he asked.

"_Larsa_," Penelo said, still unused to the authority he had in their relationship. To the way someone younger than her could be so commanding.

"It will be taken care of, I promise you," he said. "Now please, see my physician about your shoulder. I'll be waiting for you."

Penelo realized that the final word on the matter had been said. All she could do was nod and say. "Thank you. I'm... I'm sorry for causing so much trouble."

"Please try not to do so in the future," Larsa replied. "I was worried."

* * *

><p>Worried had not been the half of it. Only Bellamy's clear sense and Judge Cyrus's strong feeling that Penelo had run off on her own had prevented him from deploying the whole army in search of her.<p>

He'd been disappointed too, unable to understand what could possibly possess her to take off that way. That he knew, he'd been nothing but attentive as a host, had provided her with everything she could have needed. If she'd wanted to go for a walk it would have been such a simple thing for her to let someone know before going.

So when she showed up again, clean and healed and dressed in new clothes, it was hard for him not to feel a little resentful. He wondered if it was lingering jealousy from when she'd admitted her feelings for Vaan and hoped that he was not the sort of person who would be so petty about something that had been so obvious.

She sat down to tea with him and the first words out of her mouth were, "Gods, Larsa, I'm so sorry for everything. I didn't mean to cause anyone trouble and I should have been more considerate."

He kept his face still as he worked out what to say. She looked perfectly remorseful and he very nearly wanted to forgive her for the whole thing right there, but there were questions he needed to ask and to ask carefully if he wanted real answers.

There were times when Larsa had occasion to notice the way that his political life crept slowly and inevitably into his personal life. Moments, like this one, where he took the same attitude toward a conversation with an acquaintance that he would to a conversation with politicians, Judges, accountants.

He wondered briefly whether that should worry him. Penelo noticed him doing it, he thought. She always seemed to crawl into herself a little-to become more unsure around him as though he were some strange authority figure and not one of her best friends.

"Penelo..." he began. "Forgive me, but I am still having trouble _understanding_ why you would run off that way? Surely you know, that if you really wished to visit Old Archades I would have provided you with an appropriate guard. I would not have _forbidden_ that you go."

"I know," Penelo said, shaking her head. "I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking-I was just... I was _sad_ all of a sudden." The last part came out in a rush that Larsa understood meant that it had been difficult for her to admit. "I just couldn't be where I was any more. I didn't even think about where I was going or about you or Margarethe or anybody and I just... I'm not _used_ to having to tell people where I'm going. I mean, I'm not used to anybody _caring_ about..."

When she trailed off, Larsa knew that the conversation would soon be about Vaan. "_I _care about where you are," Larsa said. "Always. Whether you're here or elsewhere, you _know_ this."

"I do," she admitted. "I... _thank you_." She took his hands in hers and her eyes locked with his. In this light, they looked almost amber. "For being such a good friend to me. I don't know that I've ever done anything to deserve it."

"You have been a good friend as well," Larsa said. "Though confusing at times."

"I know," she replied. "It was so stupid, but... I don't know. Do you know what it's like yet? When you love somebody so much and the only thing in the world that you want is for them to just love you the same way and they just... don't?"

The sheer irony of it almost stole his breath. He didn't know whether he wanted to laugh or to scream or to grab her by the shoulders and kiss her. None of those things was an option, though, so he just squeezed her hand back.

"Maybe this time apart is good for you," he said, fighting to keep his tone neutral. "Have you not been happy here?"

She looked as though she didn't know what to say to this. She seemed to be giving it some serious thought, before her face brightened. "I have been," she said, almost wonderingly. "It's been nice, staying with you."

"I cannot begin to imagine what it must seem like for you, always on that airship together," Larsa began, holding her gaze. "But I assure you, Vaan is not the only man in your life."

There was something different in the way that she looked at him after he said that. As though he had turned into a whole different person that she wasn't entirely sure how to deal with.

"I...I know," she said, though her voice made it sound like she hadn't quite.

The conversation wound to other things, but he could not help but note that she was more careful about the way she touched him, that she seemed to think just a little bit more before she spoke to him.

And finally, when he insisted on kissing her on the cheek before they parted for the night, her face went red and her breath caught in her throat just a bit and she couldn't quite seem to look him in the eye.

* * *

><p>CHAPTER THIRTEEN PREVIEW:<p>

_What is obvious_

* * *

><p>NOTES: My new computer doesn't have Microsoft Office on it, so editing these things is a little bit challenging. There are things I know I love about this chapter and things I know I hate about it, but they are very difficult to look at. Please let me know what you guys think!<p>

* * *

><p><strong>THANK YOU!<strong>

Crow Skywalker: I know! I think the end of this chapter is sort of the start of her getting it though. More in the next one, definitely._  
><em>

Ariels Lament: Dang, I guess we never talked about her birthday. I think I had it set for June and there was a section where I was going to write about it, but I think I cut it. I'll go back and take a look at it. It was sort of an oversight because there were other things going on in the plot, but I can see where, if we're keeping such good track of Larsa's birthdays we should also be keeping track of Penelo's. Definitely something I'll work out and probably edit back in later and include in the future. I think that in this section, it's coming up again. But I think I also skipped one or two.

Marta: I think they just made up names TBH. That game was pretty fun though :D

ZoraAngel: TOTALLY CHOCOBO LAKE! HOW DID YOU KNOW? lol. Mindreaders.


	13. thirteen: (interlude) what is obvious

ON YOUR WINGS

_chapter thirteen (interlude): what is obvious_

* * *

><p><em>"I assure you, Vaan is not the only man in your life."<em>

She couldn't stop thinking about it. The way that he'd looked at her when he said it. The way his hand pressed against hers. Something was definitely different. Perhaps it had been different all along. She stared at the ceiling of the room he'd lent her and hugged a pillow to her chest as she mulled over everything. Could Larsa possibly...? But no. She turned her head into the sheets and twisted uncomfortably. He _couldn't_.

As he'd walked her back to her room, he'd insisted on taking her arm in his once again and she was struck by the sudden realization that he was very tall and very _male_. Of course she'd noticed that he was older, that he looked different, that he was more commanding but somehow it hadn't occurred to her that he was handsome, that he was attentive. That there were certain ways he could look at her that made her heart skip a beat and her face feel flush and her breathing go irregular. It didn't make _sense_.

Still, when she'd gathered with Margarethe and Trish to learn the ballet and Larsa had come to watch, she found herself stretching. Arms reached back, torso extended in a way that made her look longer, leaner, tantalizing, a pose she held longer than she would have had he not been there, her face expressing a near-perfect nonchalance about his presence. But she wasn't entirely nonchalant. She'd wanted him to look and he had and she'd nearly given herself away and blushed at the trace of his eyes down her body. It was not a thing she would normally do around anyone other than Vaan. Not a thing she could imagine doing around Larsa, yet she'd done it. Worked to draw his attention away from the other two women in the room and succeeded.

Margarethe had started the metronome. Trish had moved her into position. She had the time to notice, but not to analyze. To move, but not be moved.

_Larsa? _She'd thought.

And that was that.

* * *

><p><em>She wants to talk to him, but she doesn't know what to say. <em>

_Now that she thinks about it, it's obvious enough even without him having said anything outright. The letters. The gifts. All the special attention. Gods even the way that _Margarethe_ sometimes seems so sad when she looks at her. And of course, that _kiss.

_But he hasn't said anything outright. Made any declaration or any forward action that she can refute or repel. He knows that she loves Vaan. So what...? So how...?_

_There's something to be said. She knows it, but she doesn't know what it is._

_She's thinking about sitting down with him, taking his hands in hers, and gently telling him that however dearly she cares for him it will never be anything romantic. That he's like a brother to her. That she just can't see him that way._

_But the more she mulls those words over, the more small falsehoods she finds in them. _

_And the more she finds that she's lying to herself, saying she's not in the least bit attracted to Larsa, the more confused she gets. It makes her head hurt and her stomach flip and she finds that she doesn't know what to say to him at all any more. Not just about this, but about anything. _

_The thought of even looking at him begins to cause her distress and so..._

* * *

><p>"She's not coming to dinner?"<p>

"No, Lord Larsa." Bellamy replied, both tone and expression even.

"Did she give a reason?" Larsa asked, confused at the sudden change of plans.

"Lady Penelo simply said that she feels unwell."

"Unwell?" the young emperor repeated with a tinge of suspicion in his voice.

She had been different lately, in a way that he couldn't say he disliked. At her dance practice, she had not seemed to be in poor health and so Larsa had to wonder why she would lie. He thought of the way she'd blushed at his touch the night before. The way that she had seemed to be trying to win his attention and deflect it at the same time.

_Does she really think that she can avoid me in my own house? _He wondered with some amusement.

"I suppose we shall have to bring dinner to her, then."

* * *

><p>Penelo sipped her tea and looked out the window. Trish sat across from her, holding an identical cup and frowning.<p>

"Miss Penelo, are you sure you do not wish to go to dinner?"

"This is fine, Miss Trish," Penelo said. "I just wanted some... quiet for the night."

Outside the sun set lazily. Penelo found that she was perfectly content to clear her mind and focus on the yellowing sky. Trish seemed to pick up on this and didn't ask her any more questions, instead she took a deep breath and leaned back in her chair.

"It was a beautiful day," she said.

"Mmm."

Minutes whiled away as their tea cooled and for the first time in the past few days, Penelo felt at rest. It was similar to the way she'd usually felt around Larsa, as though the world could whirl around her and it wouldn't matter, wouldn't move her from calm and center. It was a feeling she _liked_. Not to be flying around all over the place, sorting out a dozen different jobs in a dozen different places, to be content with a lack of motion.

Not that she didn't like flying. Nothing like that. It was just that sometimes it was _nice_ to have two feet solidly on the ground. To know where you stood.

And without warning and without her permission, her mind wandered back to that once that Larsa kissed her. A moment rendered awkward by circumstance, that she'd nearly put out of her head. But when she focused on it, when she thought back, she could remember the softness of his thin lips against hers. The way it had made her feel cool and calm, steady and deep in a way that threatened to steal her breath.

He'd been so young then and it felt like it had been so long ago. But it hadn't quite, had it? Just two years, and what had she told him?

Seventeen. She'd never expected him to wait, but she had thought that his impatience would be more with her than his age. That he would find some nice girl, a bit more appropriate for him—a Margarethe maybe. _Not_ that at sixteen he would be telling her that Vaan was not the only man in her life.

Her thoughts were in a tumult by then. Because she did love Vaan, had loved him for so long she didn't know how _not_ to or if she would ever stop. No matter that for a moment she was thinking how silly age was, that Larsa so young could be so grown up and Vaan so grown up could be so immature. No matter that for a moment she missed the cool of Larsa's hands in hers just an edge more than she longed for Vaan's warmth and rakishness.

You just couldn't feel that strongly for two people in the same way. You _couldn't_. It would tear you apart. She shook her head lightly, dispelling the desperate wish that Vaan would come and throw his arms around her, mess with her braids, and pull her in for a kiss. Glad that she'd decided not to go down to eat with Larsa.

"Miss Penelo?" Trish asked. "Are you all right?"

"Just thinking," Penelo said, forcing a smile.

Trish looked nervous for a moment. She clutched the handle of her teacup even though its contents had long gone cold and took a slow slip. Penelo's forehead wrinkled slightly at this, but she decided not to comment. Waited quietly in case the other girl had something she wanted to ask.

"Have you... have you had a fight with Lord Larsa?" Trish asked, finally.

Penelo's eyes widened at the question. "No," she replied, maybe a little too quickly. "Why would you think that?"

"It just... appeared as though you did not wish to see him," Trish replied. "And you must know that Lord Larsa cares for you a great deal..."

"I know," Penelo said, "I just..."

A loud knock on the door saved her from fully considering how she would finish that sentence. "I'm sorry Miss Penelo," Trish said, nodding as she stood hurriedly to answer the knock. "I did not mean to pry."

"No Miss Trish," Penelo said, thrown off balance by the suddenness of both the noise and the apology. "It's fine..." her voice trailed as she wondered who could be knocking. Maybe it _was _Vaan, she hoped. Maybe she'd been wrong about everything.

But of course not. She knew it even before Trish opened the door.

When she heard Larsa's voice, she wanted to feel some sort of dread. Thought that would be appropriate, that it would fit perfectly to her conflicted feelings. But she didn't. The sound of him asking for her, saying her name, it made her feel a little bit giddy.

She was almost embarrassed to admit to herself that she'd wanted to see him after all.

* * *

><p>Larsa stood aside as Bellamy directed two attendants to place their dinners, a pitcher of water, and two cups at the table where Penelo sat. He watched as the girl seemed to consider being startled and upset before settling back into her chair and choosing to smile at the attendants and thank them instead.<p>

"Trish, Augusta will have dinner for you downstairs," Larsa said, motioning her out.

Trish's expression was conflicted. "I... Miss Penelo?" she asked, turning to the Dalmascan girl.

"It's fine, Miss Trish," Penelo said. "I'm feeling much better, thank you."

With this reassurance, Trish nodded, curtseyed, and left. Penelo didn't say anything more as the attendants set the table and swept out of the room.

Larsa nodded as they passed. Bellamy flipped on a few lights as the sun was nearly gone beneath the horizon before following the attendants out and shutting the door behind them.

"Larsa," Penelo said, as he made his way over to sit down next to her. "I wasn't expecting you."

"You were going to be angry with me," he said with a small smile. "I should apologize for my intrusion."

Penelo's eyes widened in surprise that he'd guessed. "No," she said, "Well, yes... but, not really."

"Don't worry," Larsa said, gesturing to the food. "I said that I _should_ apologize, but I will not. Does that make me rude, do you think?"

"Of course not," Penelo said. "I don't think you have it in you to be rude."

"So you say, when I have just barged into your room and ordered you to eat with me?" Larsa asked, amused as he cut his steak.

Penelo smiled at him and picked up her utensils. "When you kindly brought food up to your unwell house guest," she corrected gently. "Besides, you would've left if I'd asked you to."

"Would I have?" Larsa said before neatly fitting a bite of food into his mouth.

"_I _think so."

Larsa swallowed his food and took a patient sip of water. "You think that the Emperor of Archadia would have retreated from your door, attendants in tow, at your mere wish?"

Penelo recognized the joking tone in his voice and shook her fork at him in reproach. "I think that my _friend_ Larsa wouldn't have wanted to intrude on me if I were _really_ feeling unwell."

It was the opening he had been looking for, however unconsciously, and when she said it he couldn't stop himself from saying, "So you admit that you were just avoiding me, then?"

Penelo's lips pressed together and she looked down at her plate, grip tightening on her knife. "Larsa, I..."

And he knew that he had to proceed carefully then. She had been about to be upset with him. Had been about to tell him to leave. Something had changed her mind, though he didn't know what. He didn't even know why she hadn't wanted to see him in the first place, though he had a sneaking suspicion it was something to do with their conversation the night before.

If that _was _it, and she was happy not to bring it up, then it was a topic he was satisfied with avoiding. "Ask me to leave," he said, reaching over to cover her hand with his own.

She looked back at him, lowering her knife in confusion. "What?"

"Ask me to leave," he repeated with a sly smile.

"Larsa," she said, voice tinged with uncertainty. "Please leave?"

He retracted his hand and gathered up his own utensils. "No," he said quite plainly as he cut into his steak again.

Penelo couldn't stop herself from giggling at the absurdity of what he'd just done. "_Larsa."_

"I told you that I would not have left if you asked me," he said, taking a sip of water.

"You're ridiculous."

"I may be, but I am a ridiculous _Emperor _or did you forget?"

"After that speech you gave Vaan and I last year, how could I?"

It was Larsa's turn to gaze at his plate in embarrassment. "I was not so terrible, was I?"

"No," Penelo said, shaking her head. "You were... pragmatic."

Larsa wondered a little at this choice of words, but decided not to comment. It was enough that she didn't think poorly of him for it. Enough that she appeared to be in a much better mood than she had been. The young emperor knew how to be patient. It wasn't time yet for him to tell her he loved her; she wasn't ready to hear it and he was still, by her standards, too young.

She loved Vaan, and that was fine with him. The sky pirate would break her heart, probably had already, and when Penelo finally realized that she and Vaan would never have the life that she wanted, Larsa would be prepared and waiting.

It was enough for now that the idea was in her head; it was not necessary for her to acknowledge it or dwell on it or worry herself over it.

It was enough for now that she knew.

"Whatever else I am to you, Penelo, I hope you know that I will always be your _friend_ foremost."

"I know," she replied quietly. "Even when... even when we weren't writing," she said. "I knew."

Satisfied with her response, Larsa steered the conversation in directions that were less emotionally taxing. Like the weather, the finer points of Archadian ballroom dancing, and the _fun_ of chasing wolves down the Giza plains.

* * *

><p>Penelo for her part couldn't help but feel as though a wide net was being laid out under her. She imagined it stretching out across the landscape, sea to sea, mountain to mountain, waiting to catch her and conduct her to Archades if she ever fell.<p>

She didn't know whether this was a good or a bad thing. She couldn't tell whether it made her feel safe or trapped. She was ashamed of herself for thinking that Larsa could ever mean to trap her, but she couldn't help but feel she could never entirely get away from him. And again, was that good or bad? Would there ever be a reason for her to want to entirely get away from the boy who was arguably her dearest friend?

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><p>CHAPTER FOURTEEN PREVIEW:<p>

_Small surprises_

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><p>NOTES: This is super late, I know. Life. It's a thing. Sigh. I'm terrible.<p>

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><p><strong>THANK YOU! <strong>(these are gonna be short because my internet is buggin')

Ariels Lament: Sorry for the wait :( Did I fix the wrong word? I remember reading your review, but I don't remember if I went back and did it. That would totally bug me too. And yup, Penelo's getting pretty comfortable in Archades.

Zora Angel: I hope this update makes you happy too! :D?

Fala-Li: I love FFXII too! (obviously lol) Sorry I am such a terrible writer.

Marta: You have an incredibly talented goldfish. I am incredibly jealous. Jk jk, yeah she's pretty oblivious about that. Well not really any more.

Lily: I hope you're still interested in reading this! lol.

Kiki: Eep. I'll be working on this more probably. The holidays were kind of tough since I work in retail, but now I've got a breather.

The Devil Butterfly: Thanks! I'll have to go check that out. Do you have a link?

mum2shane: Continuing it now :D

Threepwood2012: Here's a new chapter! :D :D :D ?

WhimsicalMayhem: Thank you! I think you're giving me too much credit, but thanks anyway! I hope you like this chapter too.

airbendergal: Thank you! DO YOU LOVE AVATAR? Cause I also love that show!

pterodactyls: I'm alive! The ice cream thing was pretty creeper. I actually like Margarethe though :S


	14. fourteen: small surprises

ON YOUR WINGS

_chapter fourteen: small surprises_

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><p><em>It's so unfair.<em>

There are a dozen other thoughts she could have thought. A hundred. But this is the only one she can focus on: _This. Is. So. Unfair. _Because there is Vaan standing right in front of her, arms outstretched, knowing, _just knowing_ that she is going to run into them, because he's come to get her early, because he wants to see her, _just when she's given up on him_. And it's so unfair.

It's unfair because there her feet are just throwing her toward him. There a smile is breaking out across her face like she's not furious that he left her in suspense in the first place. There's his hand wagging one of her pigtails like he goddamn well owns it.

There she is with her heart only just slightly still broken.

Larsa was, if possible, more surprised than Penelo at Vaan's return if for no other reason that it had happened so early in the morning and so utterly without his knowledge.

Of course he'd left standing orders that, should the young sky pirate turn up he should be let in and escorted to wherever Penelo happened to be; however he had neither expected the boy (because boy he thought him in spite of their ages) to appear early nor to arrive during breakfast. Penelo, who had been on his arm just seconds before broke away to run to her... her... Larsa would not even allow himself to think what Vaan was to her. Her eyes had widened in shock when she'd first seen him—and something else had crossed her face. Something that left Larsa hopeful though he wasn't stupid. A smile had broken out and then there she'd gone running.

It was enough to make Larsa frown only just slightly and only just for a second. But over Penelo's shoulder Vaan saw—offered an apologetic, a barely smug smile. Because of course, Larsa thought, _he knew_. Why else, after all, would he be back? Whatever he was to Penelo he wasn't ready to let her go just yet.

And _that_ thought was frustrating. It was maddening. It was just...

Unfair.

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><p>Penelo wanted to yell at him. She really did. But she didn't quite know what for. For not coming with her to Archades, for bothering to come back early, it all seemed ridiculous and so she stayed silent. Vaan was talking over a mouth full of sausage about how the operation in Rozarria had been going. "I couldn't leave," he said for Penelo's benefit, "until I was sure Balthier and Fran were going to be able to finish ok, you know?"<p>

His eyes told her that he'd wanted to come back sooner. He honestly had. And she felt her anger evaporating leaving nothing but a small lingering residue. That sense that if she'd done to him what he'd done to her—just gone off and left even though they'd had plans, when they were in the middle of an important discussion about their future—he wouldn't be so readily forgiving. He would've stomped off and skulked. There's no way he would've just run up and hugged her or smiled while she talked about her adventures without him. He would've rolled his eyes at every sentence and said something like "Pen, I don't know why you even went in the first place. It's stupid can we just stop talking about it?"

And yet there _she _was asking how Fran and Balthier were, encouraging him to tell her details while Larsa smiled politely. Asked polite, pertinent questions. Was the perfect picture of perfect politeness.

The past few days could have made it an awkward situation, had Penelo and Larsa allowed it to be. But neither of them was willing to. Penelo, for her part, tried her best to concentrate on Vaan without ignoring Larsa entirely and Larsa—well, Larsa was always graceful in a way that Penelo could never even hope to imitate. If he wanted to seem unbothered by something he would. Though really, Penelo had no right to say whether he might be bothered or not, because really all he'd said was that he'd always be her friend and that Vaan wasn't the only man in her life and, really what did that-

She noticed her thoughts were wandering from the conversation and snapped them back forcefully. Vaan was in the middle of some stupid anecdote about how he'd almost gotten killed. Penelo knew she had an ally across the table and she shot Larsa a look that spoke volumes about what Vaan was saying. The young emperor readily returned it and she was surprised a little when her heart jumped at the sight of his wry, but complicit smile. Vaan's hand was on Penelo's arm in an instant as he emphasized a particularly death defying stunt he'd pulled off and Penelo realized that normally her first instinct wouldn't be to share pointed glances with Larsa across the table, it would be to chastise Vaan for getting himself into so much trouble.

So that's what she did then. And even though her heart was in it, she couldn't help but feel like maybe it didn't know so much what it wanted any more.

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><p>Larsa, for his part, was as placid as someone in his situation could be expected to be and then some. He noted small things about the conversation, like that Penelo hadn't gotten to say anything about learning ballet or meeting Trish and Margarethe or seeing her old friend Alma. She must have wanted to, but she let Vaan talk over her—not quite so patiently. Every so often she'd shoot Larsa a look that he could easily interpret and respond too. Vaan wasn't blind to these exchanges either and he would always find some way to touch Penelo or otherwise redirect her attention back to himself. It was a small competition that Penelo could only have been oblivious to because she chose to be.<p>

It didn't bother Larsa. It had never bothered him before and he was not about to let it start bothering him now.

Still, when the time came for him to show Vaan his room, Larsa made sure it was very far away from Penelo's. He was pleasantly surprised that when Vaan tried to sneak across the palace into his partners room, his guards reported that the girl had rebuffed his advances and sent him straight back.

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><p>"Are you being serious right now, Penelo?" Vaan's whispering echoed across the hallways and Penelo blushed, hoping nobody could hear him.<p>

"It just doesn't feel right; I mean this isn't even our house," Penelo replied quietly. She'd cracked the door just open enough to see him a little and talk to him, not open enough for him to shove his way through if he'd wanted to.

"So what, we can't do anything because it's _Larsa's_ house?" he asked, voice sounding a little off as he said Larsa.

Penelo didn't even want to think about what that meant. "We're _guests_, Vaan."

"_You're _a guest," Vaan corrected. "I'm an... an _interruption_."

"You're being stupid," Penelo replied without missing a beat. "We're _both _Larsa's friends. Go to bed."

She shut the door on him before he could respond. Because he _was _being stupid. Like what did he even mean, "_You're _a guest"-they'd both been invited. Rooms had been set up for the both of them from the beginning and Vaan could have been there_ from the very beginning_ if he was so worried about Larsa. He was the one who _chose-_

And Penelo found herself getting angry with him all over again. But it was an anger with no outlet because telling him she was upset would accomplish exactly zero might make him run off with someone else even, who knew at this point? They still hadn't talked about it.

She noticed, a little, how jealous he was acting she was a little surprised that, in spite of herself, she felt a little glad.

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><p><strong>THANK YOU! <strong>To everyone still reading this. I know it's super super super late.


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